We have released the first preview of Unreal Studio 4.20 for Unreal Engine 4.20
Previews should only be used for testing and not for development
Please share feedback (about Unreal Studio features) here on the forum thread
Post bug reports about Unreal Studio 4.20 via the support webpage
Unreal Studio Exporters Downloads page for the new 3ds Max (and very soon SketchUp) exporters
Features you might want to test:
**Metadata: **User Defined Object Properties from 3ds Max, whether populated with data from Revit, or by the user, is now available in the Editor, or at run-time. This enables various workflows, such as finding all, “doorknobs” and simplifying them via a Python script or using metadata at run-time to display relevant information when someone selects an actor.
Datasmith for SketchUp (available in a few days)
**LOD generation: **In 4.20, we provide a user-extensible Python script, and expose it to Blueprints, that creates simplified LOD meshes and assigns the LOD to a static mesh. Now, LOD creation can easily be automated.
**Mesh Editing: **Basic ability to select face/s and perform operations on them, such as detaching to create a new mesh, deleting, or flipping their normals. This helps fix import problems where changing the source data is difficult or impossible.
Non-destructive Re-import: With 4.20, keeping track of changes is greatly improved. Now, only changed elements are imported, leading to faster iteration, and any previously made Editor changes are retained and reapplied as needed. Also possible now are per-object tessellation settings, having multiple instances of a Datasmith scene and allowing actors to move across sub-levels while maintaining reimport.
2-Pass Import: CAD files are now processed in a way that enables per object tessellation adjustment after import and the ability to control using Python/Blueprints which parts of the assembly are actually processed.
Rhino Enhancements: Major improvements in 4.20 include importing layers as UE4 layers; Blocks properly supported including Actor hierarchy reflecting Block nesting hierarchy. In addition, materials are assigned according to the object/layer/parent rule.
Fit and Finish: 3ds Max objects with customized pivot locations have improved support. Geometry assets now have more readable names. IES profiles are now stored in a Lights subfolder. You can now drag and drop a Datasmith Scene Import Data asset from the Content Browser into the viewport. Datasmith Scene asset can now have its own thumbnail. 3ds Max now assigns custom collision meshes to objects with a “UCX_” prefix.
Engine features:
nDisplay: multi-display, multi-PC, GenLock
Media: TimeCode, video I/O
Misc: ProxyLOD voxelization, Sequencer FCP, area lights, Shotgun
Awesome, had a play already and managed to autogenerate the Python html docs (although missing the theme). Great work guys.
Would it be possible to get an example of how to use the 2-pass import in a Python script? In particular how to merge meshes prior to importing into the scene / creating StaticMesh assets.
Finally Skechup support. The single most important thing there is. Since UE4 main problem was complexity and high learning curve which is bigger problem for causal sketchup architects then for the 3ds max experts, this will skyrocket the unreal studio usage. You`ll see.
Awesome ! So much QOL and new features, metadata is going to open up a new realm of possibilities for scene interaction and data prep. :eek:
Great job on this release !
EDIT : well I cant get the meta data to work correctly, I can see the data map, but it comes in empty even with a lot of stuff exported from revit>max in user defined object properties as shown in the screenshot
Am I missing a step somewhere ? Max plugin has been updated with the new 4.20 release and I’m using the 4.20 preview 1 engine revision.
Hi Epic, can kindly help build exporter for SketchUp 2017 too, please?
I am currently still using SketchUp Make 2017 as it is the last free version.
Been looking forward to this, but sadly it’s only available for 2018.
Would be great if exporter for SketchUp is available in last 3 versions too - like the 3ds Max exporters.
Regarding video i/o, what hardware is supported? I noticed there is a plug-in for AJA now, but nothing for Blackmagic Decklink so far. I’ve been hoping for video output support for a while now, and I really hope that this won’t be limited to the comparatively expensive hardware from AJA. NDI output support would also be very useful.
Hi guys! So glad the sketchup exporter is finally here!
But I’ve just made a quick comparison test and i’m a bit frustrated with the result. I’ve made a veeeeeery simple scene (see the image) in sketchup and a quick vray rt render. It only has sunlight, a few simple meshes for the floor, walls and ceiling, and a couple of materials (the one for the walls is just a diffuse texture, and the wood floor also has a normal and roughness maps). I exported that scene to fbx as usual, and to datasmith format with the new plugin.
Once in unreal i’ve created a new project in 4.19.2 with the fps template, imported the fbx, added the normal and roughness maps to the wood material to mimic the vray version, and baked the light with medium settings. Everything is fine, as always.
Then i’ve created another project, this time using 4.20 preview unreal studio template and imported the datasmith data into it. The materials imported in a strange way (in fact they are instances, but the wood is quite similar looking to the vray version, quite good point there), but the real problem came with the meshes. When i baked the light (same settings as the 4.19-no-datasmith project) is all very dark, and the floor mesh doesn’t receive shadows
In the mesh editor the lightmaps that unreal automatically generated are the same as in the fbx 4.19 version, and as i said, all the other settings are the same in the two version of the project. I know that is a preview version and may have some errors but i find strange that something that simple doesn’t work, at least, as it did with fbx. Am i missing something?
Two things: we don’t support V-Ray renders from SketchUp. I don’t think we’ve made a decision to do that yet. You know, you can use the VRay for Unreal to bring a VRay scene file over to Unreal, so you have a high-fidelity path already.
Secondly, there is a bug in our lightmap generation that screws up on some surfaces. We’re looking into it.
Ok, good to know that you are working on it! I’ll give a try to the vray for ue beta also, thanks for pointing that out. Anyway the materials part of the test was just to observe the behaviour of the exporter on a scene that has some vray brdf materials on it.
Played a bit with the preview. Saw some nice improvements for sure.
I still wasn’t able to import an Inventor assembly file that had sub-assemblies inside it though. This time it throws an error that it failed to import and to view the output log for information, but it didn’t say anything about a cause. Single assembly files still work fine.
Curious if I should resubmit a bug report? I already had one in there from 4.19 and wouldn’t want to double up.
How about submitting a defect report to the support team and include links to your forum post + relevant files? We can then work together privately to increase the quality of data you get with inventor models.
