New AEC-focused features added to Unreal Studio beta 4.21 and Datasmith workflow toolkit
Unreal Studio 4.21 now includes support for Autodesk Revit in its Datasmith workflow toolkit, which is used to streamline the transfer of CAD data into Unreal Engine. Supported elements include materials, metadata, hierarchy, geometric instancing, lights, and cameras.
The workflow with 3ds Max has also been improved with enhanced 3ds Max Material Translation that supports the most commonly used 3ds Max maps, with a view to improving visual fidelity and reducing rework. Those in the free Unreal Studio beta can now translate 3ds Max material graphs to Unreal graphs when exporting, making materials easier to understand and work with. Users can also leverage improvements in BRDF matching from V-Ray materials, especially metal and glass.
DWG and Alias Wire file types are also now supported in Datasmith, enabling designers to import more 3D data directly from Autodesk AutoCAD and Autodesk Alias.
Interactive, collaborative design review across any work site also gets a look in in the new release with a new Multi-User Viewer Project Template that enables multiple users to connect in a real-time environment via desktop or VR.
Meanwhile, new jacketing and defeaturing tools help reduce the polygon count in models and boost performance. Jacketing automatically identifies meshes and polygons that have a high probability of being hidden from view and lets users hide, remove, or move them to another layer; this command is also available through Python so that Unreal Studio users can integrate this step into automated preparation workflows. Defeaturing automatically removes unnecessary detail (e.g. blind holes, protrusions) from mechanical models.
Unreal Engine itself has also been enhanced for version 4.21 and now includes native support the Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) platform and headsets and more mobile optimizations to both Android and iOS, including up to 60% speed increases when cooking content.
Finally, a new early access Pixel Streaming feature allows users to author interactive experiences such as product configurations or training applications, host them on a cloud-based GPU or local server, and stream them to remove devices via web browser without the need for additional software or porting.
Meanwhile, check out our in-depth feature on Unreal Engine becoming part of design
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