Exporting from CAD to Unreal

Firstly, you need to download Epic Games Launcher and Install Unreal. This can be found here at the Epic Games Website.

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/

You will need a powerful machine to install and run this software.

You will also need to create an Epic Games Account in order to use the engine.

The exporters for your CAD software are available here:

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/datasmith/plugins

They export a .udatasmith file that Unreal can then import via the Datasmith Plugin.

I would delay installing Unreal until after you’ve confirmed that the exporters you need, as some are slow to update to the most recent Unreal version.

Once you have the exporter for your software (these can be installed anywhere, and then the file moved to Unreal afterwards) you can install the version of Unreal that you need.

Any 5.x version will work correctly.

Once installed, click Launch, and go through the prerequisites. You’ll end up at the Unreal Project Browser.

For the best experience, select the Architecture Tab, and create a new Archvis project.

Place the project in a suitable location, with a memorable name. Then click Create.

This process will take a long time, but eventually the editor will open.

If you’re new to using Unreal we recommend familiarizing yourself with the editor by following some of Unreal’s Tutorials. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/learn

Plugins

Open the Plugins page, by selecting Edit and then Plugins from the top bar.

Type nDisplay into the search bar and all install all 3 nDisplay plugins.

Also type in LiveLink and install the LiveLink plugin

You will also require the Optitrack Live Link plugin which can be found here, and installed: https://docs.optitrack.com/plugins/optitrack-unreal-engine-plugin

If you wanted to use ArcGIS data to make the landscape for your model you could use the https://developers.arcgis.com/unreal-engine/ plugin too, and this would be an appropriate time to install that.

Preparation

At this point you can delete all the assets in the scene. This will provoke some warnings about Blueprints requiring assets, but the blueprints can be detected too.

I would recommend leaving the Environments folder within the scene, and also the interaction folder.

Everything else can be removed, giving you an almost empty scene ready to add in your models.

Adding a model

Using your specific CAD tool, export a model of your choosing using the datasmith exporter plugin downloaded at the start.

Once you have the .uDatasmith file, in Unreal, open the Create menu and select Datasmith → FileImport

Select the file you want to import, and click Open. A file dialog opens.

Choose a location in your project to store the imported content, and click OK. The Datasmith Import Options dialog opens.

In the Datasmith Import Options dialog, select the types of content that you want to import from your source file, and set the other import options as needed.

The Datasmith Import Options dialog displays different import options for different file types. For more information about import options.

When you finish setting the import options, click Import. Datasmith Does the following:

Reads the imported file.
Creates new Assets in your project.
Places the Datasmith Scene into the current Level.

At this point; If your model looks correct, and to scale, you can focus on the background and other elements to the scene.

Or build it out into an executable to test on the Igloo.

We haven’t yet figured out the nDisplay setup for the structure, so I would get all the models to this stage, and then save the projects ready for adjustment later.