Unreal Studio 4.21 PREVIEW

Development Pipeline & Plugins
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PREVIEW

We have released a preview of Unreal Studio 4.21 (details about the 4.21 engine preview can be found here)

(before installing, you may need to restart your Epic launcher if it has been running for a while)

  • 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 4.21 via the support webpage

  • Visit the Unreal Studio Exporters Downloads page for the Preview 3ds Max and SketchUp exporters.

  • Be aware that only one exporter plugin version can be installed to your software at a time.

(note: Revit support is coming in 4.21, but not currently available during the Previews)

Unreal Studio features to test:

  • **Enhanced 3ds Max Material Translation **- We’ve improved BRDF matching from VRay materials (especially for metal and glass), and enhanced support for most commonly used 3ds Max maps. In addition, we’ve added the ability to translate 3ds Max material graphs to Unreal graphs when exporting to *.udatasmith files, and ensured that materials sharing the same graph are created as instances in Unreal Studio.
  • Jacketing - Automatically identify meshes and polygons that have a high probability of being hidden from view, and hide, remove, or move them to another layer. The command is also available through Python, which additionally lets you integrate the Jacketing step into your automated preparation workflow.
  • Defeaturing - Automatically remove through-holes, blind holes, and protrusions of up to a specified size, typically from mechanical models. Available in both the Static Mesh Editor and through Python.
  • Enhanced Mesh Clean-up - The Static Mesh editor now enables you to unify normals; remove a selected UV channel; use hotkeys to grow or shrink triangle selections; select triangles by smoothing groups or by dragging a rectangle on screen; and focus the camera on the selected triangle.
  • Improved MDL Import - We’ve simplified the workflow for importing and reimporting NVIDIA MDL files.
  • **Datasmith DWG Import **- We’ve added DWG to the range of CAD file types it’s possible to directly import into Unreal Studio.
  • Multi-User Viewer Project Template - We now provide a project template that allows multiple users to connect in a real-time environment, via desktop or VR, with avatar replication, various navigation modes, and the ability to point with a virtual laser.
  • Variant Management - A new Variant Manager enables users to create and edit variants in the Unreal Editor, and activate or deactivate them in the Unreal Editor or at runtime, via Blueprint or C++. Variants can include visibility, transforms, material assignments, and user-defined variables via Blueprint.

Related Engine features:

  • New Python Bindings - We’ve exposed the following existing functionality to Python: ProxyLOD tool and Static Mesh LOD utilities (including setting a static mesh as an LOD of another static mesh). In addition, we’ve made UV projection mapping (box, cylindrical, planar) possible through Python as new functionality.
  • Pixel Streaming - The Pixel Streaming feature delivers a video stream of the Unreal Engine viewport to a web browser via WebRTC, and receives user input as JavaScript events. Users can favor framerate over quality, or vice versa.
  • Sun Position Calculator - Architects can now set the azimuth and altitude of the Sun in Unreal Engine based on the latitude and longitude of their design’s intended location, and for a specific time and date.
  • BlackMagic Video Card Support - We’ve added support for BlackMagic hardware, including video I/O, audio I/O, timecode, and Genlock.
  • Improved Media I/O - We’ve added support for 10-bit video I/O, audio I/O, 4K and UHD (Ultra High Definition) output over SDI, and legacy interlaced and PsF (Progressive segmented Frame) HD formats.
  • **Media Recorder **- We’ve added the ability to record an incoming video feed to disk as OpenEXR frames, and create a track in the Sequencer which can be edited and scrubbed like any other Sequencer track.
  • Media Monitoring Tools - We’ve added dockable UI panels that show active Genlock and live Timecode coming into the system, together with an improved user interface for selecting video formats.
  • Media Profiles - We’ve added the ability to create profiles to contain settings for Genlock, Timecode, and Video In and Out.
  • Audio Bakedown - There’s now a option to bake down the final mixed audio in the sequence to a single file when you render a movie.
  • Bi-Directional USD Script Template - We now offer working examples for importing and exporting USD assets via Python.

FAQ

  • Why do you release previews?

  • Primarily for the opportunity for you to catch and report any significant bugs that our QA did not experience. We will try to fix major bugs before the actual release.

  • How do I access the Preview?

  • Open the Epic Games Launcher to the Library page. Click the +] button to add a new engine slot, and select the engine Preview from the dropdown list. The Preview version of the Datasmith plugin should install immediately after the engine installation, but if not, you can also install if from the Library page in the Unreal Studio Beta section.

  • Are there updates during the Preview cycle?

  • Yes, we typically release an updated preview version every week

  • How long does the Preview run for? When is the actual release?

  • Previews typically last for a month, but may run longer or shorter on occasion. The release occurs one or two weeks after the last Preview.

  • Do I need to uninstall the Preview after it is over?

  • No. You can update the Preview installation to become the actual release.

2

What is new in Datasmith 4.21? I hope you have release notes prepared.

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Any news? Really keen on testing this. Thanks.

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Seconding on the Revit plugin availability ! :smiley:

Hyped about the Multi User template and optimization stuff too !

I’ve submitted two tickets (#00059751 and #00059752) regarding the Multi User Template networking and user menu not working correctly. :slight_smile:

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The bullet points listed under “Unreal Studio features to test” are primarily new Datasmith 4.21 features. Full release notes will be available with the official release in a few weeks.

6

Just reading this - great feature. This wouldn’t work by any chance on several Oculus GO’s as well?

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Hey @maxbrown, good question – it won’t work out of the box on a Go, because you have to enter some info at the start of a session like the display name that everyone else sees above your avatar. That assumes that you’re starting the VR session from a PC with a keyboard, like a Rift or Vive. Everything is done in Blueprints though, so it should be possible to change the BP for the main menu widget to automatically start in VR.

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@Prince_By-Tor Thanks for the reply. A few questions if I may:

  1. it works on LAN / wifi or even over the internet?
  2. You don’t expect any BIG problems connecting an Oculus GO (android) to a desktop (Windows) session (over the internet)?

Anyway: it would be great if at some point a mobile multi user template would be added to the templates. At the moment, every developer has to sort this out themselves (in C?) to make this happen. I expect many gearVR \ Oculus GO \ Oculus Quest and Rift developers would really love to use this functionality ready out of the box.

Edit: another question; where to find the Sun Position Calculator? Its not in the LightSource (directional) and there’s no documentation to be found (or…?)

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Can anybody open the Multiplayer Product Viewer Template? If I start a new project with it the editor loads up to 95% and then stops at this. Process is still running but only using very little resources and even after an hour nothing has changed.

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Nice update, but for buisness projects i need to load video from a phone storage and Unreal don’t allow it…
I’ll test the multiplayer template as soon as i can, i’m wondering if it’s the same for desktop and mobile.

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I experience this also, but other colleagues here do not. We are investigating why this occurs only on some systems. Could you please send me a private message here on the forums, with details about your system, such as operating system and graphics card? Thanks

Link to the bug report: Unreal Engine Issues and Bug Tracker (UE-65014)

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Had to wait a LOT of time the first time I opened that template. No problem now when opening a project with it or creating and opening a new one.

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Are you referring specifically to the new “Multi-User Template Project” that is now available in the 4.21 Preview?

…or to the older Product Viewer Template?

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I stopped the process as it was not going further than 95%.
with 4.21 preview.

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Multi User from 4.21. That one has a few UI problems aswell, you guys might want to check my bug report on it. :wink:

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The 4.21 preview release seems to have fixed the issues I was experiencing with CAD imports for step,igs and Inventor in 4.20.x, which I’m very happy about as the work around was adding two days to our workflow. The issue ID is UE-62102 still shows as unresolved but it appears to be fixed.

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Noticed that the MDL process has been improved - could this be elaborated upon - imagine this isn’t improving the Datasmith plugin, just the unreal import process?

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The functionality is still driven by the Datasmith plugin, but instead of using the Datasmith Import button in the Toolbar as in previous releases, you can import MDL files using the Import button in the Content Browser.

19

me too! lol

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I tried loading the Multi-User viewer Template and it did get stuck on 95% for a long time, probably 20 minutes and then loaded. Once created and saved it then reloads in the next time without the long delay, this also applies to a new project once the first one has been created.