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Customize
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Overview
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Spl. T. Versions
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Placement
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Mesh Def.
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Segments
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Books V2
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UI3 Versions
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Features /Preview
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UI3 Overview
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3.2 FAQ
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3.2 UI Settings
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3.2 UI Design
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3 Spline Tools
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Doors FAQ
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Doors V2 UE5
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Step by Step
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2 Tips & FAQ
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1 Reference
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UI3 Game Modes
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UI3.0 FAQ
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Books V1
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Doors V1
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Change list
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3.1 Bugs Fixes
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2A Generic BP
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2B Gen Examples
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1 Railings
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UI 1 - Part 1
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UI 1
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Ui 1 - Part 2
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1 Overview
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2 UI Features
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3 Get Started
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4 Info Map
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5 BP Actors
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6 Manage Clients
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7 FAQ
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8 Tutorials
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UI3 Overview
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UI3 Get Started
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3.1 Info Map
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UI3 Edit Mode
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UI3 Blueprints

UI3 Get Started

Get started with the UI3 in your own project.

Go through all of the steps to make the interface work with your project.

Try incognito mode in your browser if the images of the documentation do not match the text. Or clear your browser cache.

Content:

Video Tutorial

Get UI3 from Epics Marketplace, Versions

Migrate the UI3 to your project

Copy Input Controls

Place a Player Start

Project Settings

Sun Positioning Plugin

OpenXR Plugin

Post Process Volume

World Settings

Level Structure

Info Map Blueprint

Video Tutorial

The first two videos of the tutorial playlist will get you started with the UI3 User Interface. They show how to migrate the interface to a new project and guide you through the first steps to make it playable.

The video tutorials are accompanying this documentation. Not every setting is mentioned in them. For advanced or seldomly used options check the documentation.

Video Tutorial Playlist

Get UI3 from Epics Marketplace, Versions

You have to purchase the UI3 from the Marketplace. Best to open the Epic Games Launcher, navigate to the Marketplace section, and buy it from there.

The UI3 should now be in your VAULT. Now you can create the demo project.

Updates are free. You can re-download the demo projects as often as you want, and in any available engine version.

UI3 on the Marketplace

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From the VAULT click on Create Project. This will create the demo project.

Make sure you are using the desired engine version! You can create as many versions of the Demo Project as you want. Most of the times it is ok to upgrade to a higher engine version later on (4.26 to 4.27). But you will never be able to go down an engine version (5.1 to 5.0).

Occasionally Epic makes changes to the underlying code. An error will occur when upgrading from 5.0 to 5.1 for example. Epic has changed the way text input widgets are formatted. So best to use the version of the UI3 that matches your projects engine version.

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Migrate the UI3 to your project

To use the UI3 you can
  • create a new level in the demo project
  • or migrate the UI3 to your project.

If you decide to migrate, you can

  • Migrate the entire demo project by right clicking the main folder ArchVizUI_V3
  • only migrate the UI folder.

You need to select the Content folder in the other project as the target.

Do not just copy the folder from one project to another using Windows Explorer! Using UI3 made for 5.0 in 5.1, or worse 4.27, will not work.

Message: Some selected assets don't have a corresponding content root in the destination.
/SunPosition

Click [NO] if you get this message. Add the Sun Positioning Plug-in to the project instead.

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Copy Input Controls

The input controls are stored in the DefaultInput.ini file of your project. You have to copy this file from the Demo Project's Config folder to your project's Config folder. Use Windows Explorer to do so. You may have to restart the editor to recognize the file.

If you cannot move when playing the app then you most likely haven't copied this file to the new project.

Note: Epic is replacing the DefaultInput.ini file. This will be obsolete soon

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Place a Player Start

Add a player start to the main (persistent) level of the scene, at the position where the player should start when the app starts.

Place a Blocking Volume under the player start so the player doesn't fall through the floor in case the level geometry isn't loaded yet.

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Project Settings

Many settings are already set through the project template you did choose when you created the project. You can make changes at any time later.

You have to set a few things in the Project Settings depending on what kind of lighting you are going to use. The image shows the most common settings for the use of ray tracing.

Unreal has a very good online documentation. Be careful what you change in the project settings. The link below should get you additional help if needed.

These settings are stored in the /Config folder of your project. Rename that folder to /Config.old to reset the settings if your project crashes on loading. A new folder will be created with the most basic settings.

Setting Up Your Project | Unreal Documentation

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OpenXR Plugin

The OpenXR plugin is enabled by default in some engine versions and is disabled in others. Please enable it in your project if it isn't already.

There might be some blueprint errors complaining about missing nodes otherwise. The plugin has to be enabled, even if you do not use VR!

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Post Process Volume

Your level needs at least one post process volume. Many render settings can be set there. The image shows the PPV_Global volume from the example scene. It is set to 'Infinite Extend' which means its settings cover the entire scene.

You can add additional volumes and give them a higher priority. Settings in volumes with higher priority will overwrite settings in volumes with lower priority.

The settings in the image cover the ray-tracing of the scene for Unreal Engine 4.26.

Unreal 5 uses Lumen for reflections, shadows and ambient occlusion. Translucency is the only feature that may still look better with ray-tracing. You need to enable virtual shadow maps and hardware ray-tracing for Lumen in the project settings.

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World Settings

Open the World Settings and choose the Game Mode of your project. Currently 4 modes are available:
  • SDotUI3_GameModeKeyboard for keyboard and mouse control. Optional mouse only controls available.
  • SDotUI3_GameModeTouch for touch screen support.
  • SDotUI3_GameModeGamepad for using an XBOX gamepad or other controllers.
  • SDotUI3_GameModeVR for VR projects with a 3D interface in front of the player. VIVE and Oculus Touch controllers are set to be used.

This will set the Character and Game Controller blueprints for the current scene. Click the link below for more details about the different game modes.

For Static Lighting I recommend these Lightmass settings:

  • Static Lighting Level Scale = 0.75
  • Indirect Lighting Quality = 1.25
  • Num indirect lighting bounces = 5
  • Num sky light bounces = 3

More details about Game Modes

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Level Structure

Persistent Level

You need at least one level for each scene. This level is commonly called the Persistent Level. I like to have just the player start and some volumes like the default Post Process Volume and a Lightmass Importance Volume in it.

Sub Levels

You can add sub levels to the persistent level. They can group actors (furniture, building, details) and make working in the scene easier. They are either

  • Streaming from within the UI (blue dot next to it)
  • Always loaded (no blue dot)

Scenarios

Finally there are [Lighting] Scenario levels which can hold the entire lighting information for all other levels. This allows different lighting types for baked scenes. They can also used for layout variations.

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Info Map Blueprint

The blueprint BP_UI3InfoMap needs to be placed in the main (persistent) level of the scene. It holds most data that controls the appearance of the interface, and the data for most features.

Read more about the Info Map in the next chapter.

You can put a floor plan into it for a reference when assembling the scene. The floor plan needs to be black on white background.

Rotate the floorplan with the standard transform Z-rotation to align it with the walls. Then use the scale value in the Floorplan Settings to scale it. Finally move it so it matches the walls as exactly as possible while fine tuning the scale value.

Info Map - interface Design

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