Datasmith workflow for handling multiple levels/maps

[frost-xyz]

What would be the intended procedure for importing a detailed building model with multiple floors, if the intention was to split each floor off into its own level/map for efficiency. Can one Datasmith actor handle being split over multiple levels, or should each floor have it's own Datasmith export?

On a practical level, having one Datasmith export for a given building is obviously more manageable when changes are made at source.

[frost-xyz]

Given moving objects to an alternative level breaks the parent relationship with Datasmith actor, I'm guessing multiple Datasmith exports is what is required. Not an ideal solution when one export suffice if the implementation allowed it to. One export would also allow for shared assets between levels, whereas multiple exports obviously generates multiple repetitive assets.

[pf_breton]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention! It should be supported, but for some reasons there are still hiccups. We should definitively allow actors to be moved across levels. We have the right mechanism in place to not depend on the hierarchy (the datasmith actor is holding an array of objects and makes references that do not depend on hierarchy).

[frost-xyz]

Sounds promising, thanks.

[frost-xyz]

Have also tried to work out ways of bringing a typical floor into a Blueprint, so that typical floors can be split into streaming levels. Not sure if that is possible under the current implementation?

[pf_breton]

Can you expand on this? You don't have to convert entities into blueprints to use streaming levels. Those are orthogonal concepts. What use case are you trying to acheive? There might be other tools that will let you get to the same results. Taking entities and putting them into a BP is a risky business for entire floors - i would avoid doing this for anything else than props that don't have many objects or complex hierarchies.

[frost-xyz]

Was effectively trying to leverage one set of geometry, so on a 30+ storey building on entering a particular floor the typical geometry for that level is streamed. Obviously this is achievable with streaming levels – but was unsure of best practice for instancing one Datasmith actor to multiple Levels.

If the Datasmith actor is loaded into multiple streaming levels, should that work?