Complete FBX Pipeline Video Tutorials

[Henrik]

Importing static and skeletal meshes into the engine is a critical stage of the level and game creation process. In this series I will go into virtually every aspect that you need to know about FBX. Please be patient as I'm kind of busy and the whole series is not yet done, so please don't ask "where's the next video". I will update this page as I continue. The section on static meshes is nearly complete, and next I'll be talking about skeletal meshes and animation.

Part 1: Introduction to FBX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj6Jy...eature=related

I'll have to add each new video in its own post apparently so pardon the placeholders..

[Henrik]

Part 2: FBX Export Dialog Primer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5eiN...feature=relmfu

[Henrik]

Part 3: Common Mesh Export Issues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ2LQ...feature=relmfu

[Henrik]

Part 4: Model Preparation & Optimization

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq7ux...feature=relmfu

Hope this helps you out, and stay tuned, the best info is (imo) yet to come.

[Henrik]

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[cummings9306]

Henrik,
These videos are very helpful. I hope that 3ds Max 2013 (or 2012) have the same level of adjustments that Maya does. Part of the issue is that Maya doesn't import well from Revit files, while 3ds max does. I'm going to practice importing and exporting the models. So far, I've gotten Unreal to import simple houses, but the stairs start throwing it off. I have much larger commercial projects that would really throw it for a loop. Are there any more videos you know of that I could watch on how to determine import/export settings? I thought I heard one of these videos referring to other videos in this sequence that did that.

-Robert

[jzchughtai]

wow, this is actually useful! great job!

[Henrik]

Thank you for your kind feedback guys. I am pretty sure the FBX export in Max and Maya are just about identical. I've been hearing a lot about Revit lately but I have no clue what that is. (2 seconds later) ok I see it is some kind of architecture software. That makes sense given what you said cummings. Remember the per mesh poly limit and that should eliminate most problems where you have to work with large amounts of data. I don't know of many other videos dealing with the topic, but I will continue to delve further into it. Perhaps I can get myself motivated to finish another video tonight.

[Icemopper]

I'm actually working intensely to figure out exactly how to import Revit models as easily and accurately as possible. I've only just started, but when I have a solid grasp I'll see about making some tutorials. The whole process is generally the same, though I prefer to export the FBX from Revit to 3ds Max first, do some editing there, then bring it into UDK. It is pretty easy to do, and takes a little messing around, but it is definitely doable. My only recommendation is that you take something from Revit piece by piece, such as the walls only, or the roof only, and so on. You can limit the view in the 3D view by hitting "VV" and selecting which elements you want to take over. So if the stairs are giving you trouble, import them to a 3d editing program first and alone, then into UDK.

I hope that helps.

[AyslanMarques]

Hello Henrik,

Amazing job you are doing here, much appreciated!

You know, I'm working in a project in college, using Maya and UDK and these videos were really useful!

Can you please give some hints and tips or even a practical step by step in the next videos on how to import materials and textures properly into UDK? You mentioned that you have to save the textures in the same paste for the UDK to import them but we are having some troubles doing it.

If its too complicated to do this in the next videos or it has not been planned to do, can you please contact me and help?

Thank you so much for helping the community!

[Henrik]

Sorry I haven't had much time to move forward with subsequent chapters. Very busy year so far. As far as materials, yes I will be going into more detail covering that topic. Honestly it's pretty easy though, just make sure of these three things and your materials should import without trouble.

1. They should be in a format UDK reads, such as PNG or BMP, I find those two the most reliable - sometimes TGA has led to problems and JPEG can't be read, period.
2. They should be powers of 2 dimension wise.
3. Export the FBX as Binary.

So you set up your materials in Maya, using hardware shading to preview and make sure it's all there on the model - make sure of the criteria above, then hit export. In UDK, make sure import materials is checked. That's it!