What is it with Unreals Categories..?

General Feedback & Requests
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Hi there,

I’d like to discuss the current interface of FAB, particularly the categorization, as there are some significant issues, especially for Unreal Engine users.

General Observations
Engine Order: Unity is still listed before Unreal Engine. Could we please change this?
Category Consistency: While it may seem convenient to use the same categories across all engines (Unreal, Unity, UEFN), this approach just doesn’t work well for Unreal. I can’t speak for UEFN or Unity users, but perhaps others can weigh in on their experience.
Here’s a breakdown of Unreal-specific issues and suggested improvements for each category:

Let’s start…

“2D Assets”:
seems to be fine on the first view - just missing an “AI Generated Content” Sub-Section.
Talking about AI. There are lots and lots of Packs and Assets, not tagged as AI Asset. And no - “I edited them” is no excuse to miss this Tag! You still use AI Generated Stuff!

This Section also contains lots of Decals, that should be moved to the “Decals” Category. Same for textures, AlphaMaps and HeightMaps - which belong to the “Material & Textures” Category.

“Animations”:
Is Fine :muscle:

“Atlases”:
Yes – Kind of hard to say why that is.
Icon Atlases are in the 2D Assets, Texture Atlases belong to Materials & Textures. This Category is useless.

“Audio”:
Is Fine :muscle:

“Brushes”:
I think i know what this can be used for - specially when thinking about Landscapes.
But most Brushes are sold as Texture packs - so you maybe wanna move Brushes to be a Sub-Section of Materials & Textures?

“Decals”:
Mentioned before.
All Decals currently are in the 2D Assets Category - which is a shame. Please move them into this one… AND make this Category a Sub-Section of Materials & Textures, too.

“Education & Tutorials”:
Is Fine :muscle:

“Environments”:
Is Fine :muscle:

“Game Systems”:
Now it gets tricky. WHAT is this Category made for?
It holds Animations - Why?
It holds Material Functions - why?
VFX - why?
Code Plugins - WHY?!
This whole Category is a mess and should be removed. Instead, All contents need to move to their correct Category - and we need a “Blueprints” Category back!

“Game Templates”:
Is Fine - i think… :muscle:

“HDRI”:
Absolutely fine here :muscle:
Maybe move the HDRI from 2D Assets to this one, too.

“Materials & Textures”:
Fine on first look.
Needs “Decals” moved to this as Sub-Section.

“Tools & Plugins”:
Seems to be updated within the past Days - And looks fine now :muscle:

“UI”:
Holds way too many 2D Assets.
Stuff like Crosshair packs or AI Portraits don’t belong to UI Kits/HUDs, but to “2D Assets” instead.
Stuff like Chart Widgets have to be moved to “Widgets & Controls” …and so on.
And the whole “Icons”, “Backgrounds” and “Art” → “moved to 2D Assets”
UI/UX is “Fonts”, “UI Kits / HUDs” and “Widgets & Controls”

“VFX”:
Absolutely fine here :muscle:

“3D Models”:
Is clearly named wrong/removable. I think the Name should be changed to “3D Meshes”, since this Category holds everything from ready rigged Characters, to static Actors and Meshes-Only assets.
Make it clear, what this Category is made for! or better, remove it completely - (See “Smart Assets”)

Now… the Elephant in the Room…

“Smart Assets”:
Where to start?
Beside the fact, this is the Landfill of FAB… this Category is a pure mess.
A simple Color Slider or switchable Material, does not make an Asset “Smart”. Again, this is an indicator of your “Let’s make 1 Category list fitting all Engines” thing…

For Unreal, please remove this category. Instead, reintroduce Characters and Props, with the following sub-sections:
“Characters”
“Props”
“Weapons”
“Cloths”
“Hair”
“Nature”
…etc…
And get rid of all the products that are placed here, just cause the Seller couldn’t find the correct category ( and even didn’t update or is not allowed to move it afterwards…)

Conclusion:
The categories for Unreal Engine assets should differ from those for Unity or UEFN, as the unified setup sacrifices organization, accessibility, and user experience.
Right now, exploring FAB feels more like navigating a cluttered storage room than a streamlined marketplace.

To the Community: What do you think about this?

Consider to upvote this :slight_smile:

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I agree with the above! I also wrote already in Publishers Hub about the category of smart assets and characters in the 3D category:

Obviously, FAB lacks a clear category for characters and additional subcategories for them.

I would also like to mention the decals. I have several graffiti packs that are made in the form of decals, they are located in the textures and materials section. Obviously, they would have a place in decals, but I can’t move my product to this section, I also can’t create a new product in the decal category, so I don’t understand why and most importantly for whom this category was created if nothing can be added to it. I agree that this should be a subsection in Materials and Textures.

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i agree that smart asset are hard to understand to me that’s assets mainly based on code like a inventory system or interaction system.
Categories like plugin and blueprints/code would be more easy to understand.

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But then what’s the Game Systems category?

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