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Creating and managing 3D assets and materials in Unreal Engine

4 min read

From: hu-po

Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) is a powerful game engine, also used as a simulation creation machine for various applications like robotics, deep learning, and computer vision [01:11:00]. Compared to other engines like Unity, Unreal Engine is generally considered more powerful, offering built-in systems and speed [02:07:07]. This article covers the process of creating and managing 3D assets and their associated materials within Unreal Engine 5.

Understanding 3D Assets and Materials

In virtual worlds, 3D objects, also known as assets, are rendered based on two fundamental components:

  • Mesh: A collection of 3D positions in space (vertices) connected by lines and faces (triangles) that define the object’s shape [00:58:47].
  • Material: Defines the visual appearance of an object, including properties like base color, metallic properties (shininess), and roughness (matte look) [00:59:07].

Importing 3D Models

To bring external 3D models into Unreal Engine, you can use the Content Drawer and the Import button [00:33:42].

When importing a 3D model (e.g., an .fbx or .gltf file), Unreal Engine provides various options, such as:

  • Import Scale: Adjust the size of the model [00:36:14].
  • Import Textures: Option to import textures along with the model or separately [00:36:33].
  • Force all meshes type: Allows specifying mesh type [00:35:01].
  • Build skeletal meshes: For models with animation skeletons [00:35:08].

After importing, models are placed in the Content Drawer, which serves as a file browser for your project [00:30:46].

Creating and Using Materials

Materials are crucial for defining how your 3D models look in the engine.

Creating a New Material

  1. Navigate to the desired folder in the Content Drawer (e.g., Materials).
  2. Right-click and select “Material” to create a new material asset [00:36:58].
  3. Give it a descriptive name [00:37:12].
  4. Double-click the new material to open the Material Editor [01:00:38].

The Material Editor

The Material Editor uses a node-graph-based system [01:00:43], where nodes represent functions and can have inputs and outputs (pins) [01:02:18].

  • Viewport: Displays a real-time preview of the material’s appearance [01:00:50].
  • Details Panel: Shows properties of the selected node [01:01:04].
  • Material Graph: Where all the nodes and the final result node are connected [01:01:32].
  • Palette: Lists all available nodes [01:01:55].

Connecting Textures and Adjusting Properties

To add color and detail to a material, you typically use textures.

  1. Drag image files (textures) from your Content Drawer directly into the Material Graph [01:05:07].
  2. Connect the RGB output of a Texture Sample node to the Base Color input of the main material node to apply the texture’s color to the object [01:05:44].
  3. You can also add Constant nodes and connect them to properties like Metallic or Roughness to control the material’s shininess or matte appearance [01:06:18]. A higher metallic value makes it shinier, while a higher roughness value gives it a matte look [01:06:28].
  4. After making changes, click Apply and Save in the toolbar [01:07:15].

Applying Materials to Meshes

Once a material is created, you can apply it to your 3D models:

  1. Open the blueprint or asset containing the mesh you wish to texture.
  2. Select the desired mesh components (e.g., USB 3.0 and USB 2.0).
  3. In the Details panel, find the Materials section.
  4. Click the dropdown on the right of Element 0 and select your newly created material [01:07:50].
  5. Compile and Save the blueprint to see the changes [01:08:14].

Organizing and Saving Assets

Good organization in the Content Drawer is key. You can create folders like Models, Materials, and Blueprints to keep your project tidy [00:41:41].

It is crucial to save your work frequently in Unreal Engine, as changes are not permanent until explicitly saved [00:39:02].

  • Save Current Level: Saves the current level.
  • Save All: Saves all modified assets in the project [00:41:04]. A common shortcut for “Save All” is Ctrl + Shift + S [01:09:08].

Integrating Assets with Blueprints

Imported meshes and created materials are often integrated into Blueprint actors. A Blueprint acts as a “master object” that can combine mesh components into a single object used in the game [00:40:20]. This allows attaching scriptable behavior to 3D objects without writing code, though Python support and plugins in Unreal Engine also allow for scripting via a Python API [00:50:09], bridging the gap between Blueprint Visual Scripting and traditional coding approaches for asset management and procedural content generation [00:32:51].

For instance, an Actor Blueprint can contain multiple static mesh components (e.g., two USB components) [00:57:04]. Logic can then be added to the Blueprint’s Event Graph using nodes (e.g., Add Local Rotation for continuous movement based on Event Tick) [01:13:00]. The Blueprint becomes the entity dragged into the scene, encapsulating both the visual mesh and its interactive logic [01:14:16].

Unreal Engine also supports advanced features for rendering and simulation, including built-in VR capabilities for devices like Oculus Quest and HoloLens [00:14:04].

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