Meshes in Unreal Engine 5

Name: Meshes in Unreal Engine 5
Author: Ken Geary

Importing meshes, editing shapes, and building models.

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, in this lesson we'll learn how to import geometry into Unreal Engine 5. Although you can create many assets for your levels using the tools of Unreal Engine, you may also need to import 3D meshes, create another 3D program such as Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya, and others. We will go over the basics on how to import a static mesh that you created in another 3D application or downloaded from one of many 3D mesh hosting sites. One website, 3D Scans, hosts very high resolution scans. Although in game design you want to import the highest quality but lowest poly count assets Unreal Engine has new tools to accommodate high poly count meshes which we will cover in a future lesson. Let's search for eagle and download eagle model. I'm on the Three D scans website. I'll search for eagle, I'll select the eagle and download. Open a file, unzip it. the way front object format. It's extension dot OBJ. Fortunately, Unreal Engine now allows imports of this format. Now let's open Unreal Engine, create a new project, first select games category, then a blank template. We'll check on, start a content. We'll use some materials from there. We'll name this project Mesh, next, open a new level. We'll select time of day, so we'll have some nice lighting. And we save this level. Save current level as, make a maps folder, open that folder up. We'll save this level to import. We will delete this preview mesh. We'll select a floor. We'll scale this large, we'll make X 500, Y 500, leave Z as it is. I'm using the tab key to go between the windows. Now open your content drawer and your content folder. Right click, make a new folder. We'll call this Meshes. Open the Meshes folder, now right click, import to game. Find where you saved your eagle. Open up the Eagle file. Unreal will start importing and it'll pop up a film box request or window or panel. And here there's options to make adjustments to the import for now, we'll just reset the defaults. Import all. We'll close out any messages. Open our content drawer and from our Meshes folder, now we have two files. One is the converted mesh, and one is a default material. We'll drag the eagle into the ground. Notice it's on its side, we'll rotate it by 90 degrees. Let's rotate it in X and see what we have to do to adjust it. Click E to rotate. And it looks like we have to adjust this by 90 degrees. We can adjust the import settings to adjust for this. And it's helpful if importing many objects with the same issue. Open Meshes folder again. Delete both items. Click force delete. Be very careful when you delete, be sure you're deleting something you absolutely don't need. And we're gonna right click, import again. This time we get the film box import window, we'll change rotation to 90. Click import all. Open your missions folder. Now drag the eagle into the ground, hit W key to bring it above the ground. And now it's properly oriented. Last thing we could do is add a nice texture to this or a material. We'll go to the starter content. Materials. You can select any material you'd like, I'm gonna go with a marble material. You can click and drag it directly into the view port on top of the object. Hit F, orbit around. And the material has worked very nicely with this mesh. Save all. And in the next lesson, we're going to convert meshes to nanite in Unreal Engine 5. Thanks for watching.

Beginner Provider : Ken Geary 3 Lessons · 19m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

In lessons, you will learn how to import meshes into Unreal Engine and convert them to Nanite to optimize performance. We will also explore BPS geometry, which allows you to edit shapes and build models within the Unreal Engine editor without the need of an external 3D modeling app.

Unreal Engine 5 works with shapes, meshes, and geometry, all used to represent 3D models in your level. You will learn how to bring basic shapes into your level, such as a cube, sphere, cone, and cylinder shapes. You can also import 3D meshes created in other applications or from the marketplace. Some of these meshes, like rock formations, can be made up of millions of triangles. You’ll explore how to convert these high-poly-count meshes, which normally would slow down your game performance, to highly optimized Nanite actors that display the same at a fraction of the triangle count.

Finally, you will learn how to build a maze using BSP geometry that can have its polygon faces edited and extruded, as well as use one shape to make a cut out in another shape for doorways and window openings.

What You'll Learn

Import meshes and basic shapes such as cubes, spheres, cones, and cylinders into your Unreal Engine 5 level
Import 3D meshes created in other applications or obtained from the marketplace
Convert high-poly-count meshes into highly optimized Nanite actors to improve game performance
Edit shapes and build models directly in the Unreal Engine editor using BSP geometry without an external 3D modeling app
Build a maze using BSP geometry with editable and extruded polygon faces
Use one shape to cut out another to create doorways and window openings

Key Takeaways

Unreal Engine 5 uses shapes, meshes, and geometry to represent 3D models in a level.
Some imported meshes, such as rock formations, can be made up of millions of triangles that would normally slow down game performance.
Converting high-poly meshes to Nanite actors displays the same result at a fraction of the triangle count.
BSP geometry lets you edit and build models inside the Unreal Engine editor without needing an external 3D modeling application.
BSP polygon faces can be edited and extruded, and one shape can cut into another to form doorways and window openings.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to import meshes into Unreal Engine and convert them to Nanite to optimize performance, and how to use BSP geometry to edit shapes and build models within the Unreal Engine editor without an external 3D modeling app.

What lessons does this course include?

The course includes three lessons: Import Geometry, Convert Geometry into Native, and Working with BSP Geometry.

Do I need an external 3D modeling application for this course?

No. BSP geometry allows you to edit shapes and build models within the Unreal Engine editor without the need of an external 3D modeling app, though you can also import 3D meshes created in other applications or from the marketplace.

What skills does this course cover?

The course covers skills including 3D Modeling, 3D Modeling Software, Autodesk Simulation, Solid Modeling, Unreal Development Kit, and Unreal Engine.

How does the course help with game performance?

It teaches you how to convert high-poly-count meshes, which would normally slow down game performance, into highly optimized Nanite actors that display the same at a fraction of the triangle count.