Datasmith Feature Requests

[pauljohnson]

I have recently been working with some very large Revit files. My workflow has been to break the model into 20 sectioned views in Revit and export them individually to Datasmith files. I have then created an editor utility that imports each view to a new streaming level. These can then be streamed in and out at runtime in UE4.

Unfortunately, each separate Datasmith file creates its own Geometry, Materials and Textures folder. This means that even though assets are actually shared between views, each brings its own copies.

It would be great to have a feature to allow multiple Datasmith files to share the same asset folders in unreal. On Datasmith import it could skip creating any duplicate assets and use the existing ones from the folder. This would both increase performance and make further data prep much easier.

As a bonus, it would be amazing if the Revit exporter could export multiple Revit views at once (perhaps a gui to select which views to export?)

[pprfrost]

Dataprep Commit seems to add everything back into the current level, which is annoying if you've made changes. Datasmith has an option to not respawn deleted actors, but Dataprep doesn't seem to have this?

Also, the result from the Dataprep Commit does not have the white balls on empty actors that the result from a straight Datasmith import has (which is preferrable actually, so I'd rather hope that when you drag a Datasmith scene into a level in the future the white balls will be hidden for it as well).

Once a Dataprep Commit has been made, I believe the intended workflow is to then update the scene through the Datasmith Asset Dataprep > Update Datasmith Scene(s). From my experience, this then works as expected.

[roberteker]

Dataprep Commit seems to add everything back into the current level, which is annoying if you've made changes. Datasmith has an option to not respawn deleted actors, but Dataprep doesn't seem to have this?

Also, the result from the Dataprep Commit does not have the white balls on empty actors that the result from a straight Datasmith import has (which is preferrable actually, so I'd rather hope that when you drag a Datasmith scene into a level in the future the white balls will be hidden for it as well).

[pprfrost]

Are there plans to improve the Python API reference, to match the more recent features of the Dataprep asset? Would be nice to have those in relative feature parity. As far as I can tell the more recent features of Dataprep aren't covered by the API: https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/...s&area=default.

Also speaking of the Dataprep asset, attempting to view Metadata to filter assets is nearly impossible through the Dataprep window—UI needs some adjustment.

[david.gillespie]

Hi, I need to read PDF files in UE4.
A data of assets contain the path to the PDF file and I need to watch it in the viewport.
Maybe it's already possible but it seems no.
Is it possible now and how?
Thks.

I'd love to be able to load PDF data in too. I guess you'd need a PDF reader that could generate bitmap data for a texture at runtime. It's definitely possible to load in a folder of JPGs etc and use those dynamically. I wrote some C# functionality for that a while back using USharp to run the code in UE4. Adding the PDF conversion too would be a cool idea.

[david.gillespie]

What you say is true. However if you want to use models in Max, Revit, Sketchup etc format then you need to own these applications. Unreal won't import their native file/project formats.

Correct - however also check out the direct model import options too as there are a lot of native formats supported there too which may help you out

[roberteker]

I would like Dataprep to have it's merge functionality work similar to HLODs:

Define a radius, and check if the total bounds of each sub-hierarchy (ie CAD assembly) can fit within that radius, and if so, merge those actors.

[goodchild31]

Hi, I need to read PDF files in UE4.
A data of assets contain the path to the PDF file and I need to watch it in the viewport.
Maybe it's already possible but it seems no.
Is it possible now and how?
Thks.

[IslandPlaya]

Unless I'm mistaken, Unreal Studio included Datasmith functionality was included in Unreal Studio which has been wrapped into 4.24. Someone please correct me if I am wrong here.

What you say is true. However if you want to use models in Max, Revit, Sketchup etc format then you need to own these applications. Unreal won't import their native file/project formats.

[david.gillespie]

Unfortunately this is not the case. You need to have a valid license for these products and then use the Datasmith exporter to output a .udatasmith file that you can subsequently import into Unreal.
This is for licensing reasons I believe and is not likely to change.
There is no reason why Unreal shouldn't support .blend files natively as Unity does however....

Unless I'm mistaken, Unreal Studio included Datasmith functionality was included in Unreal Studio which has been wrapped into 4.24. Someone please correct me if I am wrong here.

[roberteker]

Dataprep should have a box mapping UV unwrap node, with real-world units as input for the tiling (yes, I know you can achieve it with materials, but not everyone using Datasmith is a shader wizard).

[DarkS474]

Unfortunately this is not the case. You need to have a valid license for these products and then use the Datasmith exporter to output a .udatasmith file that you can subsequently import into Unreal.
This is for licensing reasons I believe and is not likely to change.
There is no reason why Unreal shouldn't support .blend files natively as Unity does however....

Licensing reason ? How can that be possible?

Here is the link to the current status of supported software... Autodesk Alias Wire, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor have direct import support while Autodesk 3DS MAX, Revit and VRED need the export plugin so requiring to own the software packages.
If that was a license issue with Autodesk.. why would they allow Epic Games to create native direct import code for Alias Wire, AutoCAD and Inventor files but stop them from doing the same with 3DS MAX, Revit and VRED ?

And there is direct import support for PTC Creo Pro/ENGINEER, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks and CATIA V5 which are far from cheap software... it just doesn't make much sense that only some Autodesk packages would never get direct import support.


https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/...pes/index.html

	3D ACIS	.sat	Up to R21	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	3DEXCITE DELTAGEN	.fbx (CSB not supported)	2017, 2018	Export	Deltagen	FBX
	3DXML	.3drep, .3dxml	FS 2.0	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	Autodesk 3ds Max	.udatasmith	2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020	Export Plugin	Datasmith	Datasmith
	Autodesk Alias Wire	.wire		Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	Autodesk AutoCAD	.dwg		Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	Autodesk Inventor	.iam, .ipt	Up to 2018	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	Autodesk Revit	.udatasmith	2018.3, 2019, 2020	Export Plugin	Datasmith	Datasmith
	Autodesk VRED	.fbx	VRED Professional 2018 and 2019	Export Plugin	VRED	FBX
	Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5	.CATpart, .CATproduct, .cgr	R10 - R24	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks	.sldasm, .sldprt	Up to 2017	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	ESRI CityEngine	.udatasmith		Export Plugin	Datasmith	Datasmith
	glTF	.gltf	2.0	Direct	GLTF	glTF
	Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)	.ifc	IFC 2x3	Direct	IFC	IFC
	Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES)	.iges, .igs	5.2, 5.3	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	JT Open	.jt	Up to 10	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	MAXON Cinema 4D	.c4d		Direct	Cinema 4D	C4D
	McNeel Rhinoceros	.3dm	up to 6	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	Parasolid (x_t)	.x_t	up to 20	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	PTC Creo (Pro/ENGINEER)	.asm, .creo, .neu, .prt	V13 up to Creo 4	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	Siemens NX	.asm, .prt	V11 - NX9	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	STEP	.step, .stp	AP203, AP214, AP242	Direct	Datasmith	CAD
	Trimble SketchUp Pro	.udatasmith	2017, 2018, 2019	Export Plugin	Datasmith	Datasmith

[IslandPlaya]

Datasmith does this - it's been added to 4.24.
(Merry Christmas)

Unfortunately this is not the case. You need to have a valid license for these products and then use the Datasmith exporter to output a .udatasmith file that you can subsequently import into Unreal.
This is for licensing reasons I believe and is not likely to change.
There is no reason why Unreal shouldn't support .blend files natively as Unity does however....

[david.gillespie]

I still hope there soon will be full support for native Direct import of Autodesk 3DS Max, Revit, VRED and Trimble SketchUp Pro files, so that poor indie developers could convert/import paid assets/projects bought on other marketplaces directly into UE4 whenever FBX or other exchanging formats are missing as well as not having to deal with materials conversions for expensive renderers like V-Ray and so on.

Datasmith does this - it's been added to 4.24.
(Merry Christmas)

[DarkS474]

I still hope there soon will be full support for native Direct import of Autodesk 3DS Max, Revit, VRED and Trimble SketchUp Pro files, so that poor indie developers could convert/import paid assets/projects bought on other marketplaces directly into UE4 whenever FBX or other exchanging formats are missing as well as not having to deal with materials conversions for expensive renderers like V-Ray and so on.