Wednesday, September 4th, 2019 Posted by Jim Thacker

Epic Games releases Unreal Studio 4.23


Epic Games has released Unreal Studio 4.23, the latest version of its real-time visualisation platform, adding direct import of Cinema 4D scene files and IFC files.

The release also adds the option to retessellate CAD files inside Datasmith, Unreal Studio’s file converter, without reimporting them, plus a new template for setting up collaborative design reviews.

In addition, Unreal Studio 4.23 benefits from the new features in Unreal Engine 4.23 itself, including the HDR Backdrop actor for setting up HDR environments and better handling of IES light profiles.

A more streamlined way to import CAD data into Unreal Engine for visualisation
Launched last year, and still currently in beta, Unreal Studio is intended to provide architects and designers with a more user-friendly way to import assets into Unreal Engine for visualisation.

As well as Unreal Engine itself, the platform consists of Datasmith, Epic Games’ toolset for importing and processing 3ds Max scenes and CAD data, and a set of readymade materials.

New in Unreal Studio 4.23: direct import of C4D and IFC files
New features unique to Unreal Studio, as opposed to Unreal Engine itself, include direct import of Cinema 4D scene files, including support for lights and cameras and automatic conversion of Cinema 4D materials.

As with the existing importers for applications like 3ds Max and Rhino, reimport is non-destructive, so changes made to a scene inside Cinema 4D can be imported iteratively into UE4.

Datasmith can also now import Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) files from BIM applications.

In addition, imported scenes that contain NURBS or parametric surfaces can now be retessellated directly within Datasmith without the need to reimport the scene file.

Other new features include a readymade template for setting up collaborative online design review sessions, shown in the video at the top of the story.

The existing import plugins – 3ds Max, Rhino, Revit, VRED and DeltaGen – all get updates, largely bugfixes and performance improvements; and there are performance improvements when working with large scenes.

At the time of posting, Epic Games doesn’t have a dedicated blog post discussing Unreal Studio 4.23, but you can find a full list of new features via the link below.

Pricing and availability
Unreal Studio is available as a free open beta. The beta is scheduled to run until November 2019, after which it will become a subscription-only service, priced at $49/month, but billed as an annual subscription.

Unlike Unreal Engine itself, the EULA doesn’t require you to give Epic a cut of the revenues of any commercial products you create with it, provided that they’re non-interactive, like rendered animation.

Datasmith runs on Windows 7+ only. The Unreal Engine editor runs on Windows 10, macOS 10.14 or Linux.

Read a full list of new features in Unreal Studio 4.23 in the online release notes