ArchViz Interface User Guide

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Open the project ArchVizUI and migrate the folder Content / ArchVizUI / UI to the Content folder of your new project where you want to use the interface. This will copy all necessary items.

If you want to use other assets like the furniture or materials that come with the ArchVizUI project then migrate the entire ArchVizUI folder instead.

Copy the file DefaultInput.ini from "ArchVizUI/Config" into your myproject/Config/" folder.

These are the input settings for controller and keyboard. if you cannot move around this file is most likely missing.

You have to enable global clip planes in the project settings if you want to use planar reflections for mirrors. To do so open the project settings, select Rendering and tick the box for 'Support global clip plane for Planar Reflections'.

Place a player start into your persistent level. Place a simple blocking volume under the player start and align it with the floor. This prevents the player from falling through the floor while the game streams in the sub-levels.

In the Game Mode section choose SDotGameMode from the list of GameMode Overrides.

Sometimes the SDotGameMode doesn't get migrated with the other files. If that happens just migrate it separately again.

The loading time will be a bit longer when you start the project for the first time. So always run the project at least once before showing it to the client. Even better: have a quick run through the project to load all assets.

The BP_SDotLocatorMap needs to be in a level that has its streaming method set to "always loaded".

Drag the blueprint Content/ArchVizUI/UI/BP_SDot_Locatormap into the UI sub-level. This blueprint contains all settings for the look and features of the UI.

Floor Plan

Floors: Add one array element per building floor.

'Floorplan Opacity' can help with the appearance in the editor.

First use Floorplan Rotation to rotate the drawing and then use the transform gizmo to move and scale the drawing so it fits the building walls. Do NOT rotate the blueprint actor manually with the transform gizmo.

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Location Groups help you organize the teleport locations. They can be either floor levels or other group names (eg: apartment 01, outside).

You need at least one location group.

Other uses can be furniture layout changes. This allows the furniture assets to remain static and improves the visual quality compared to dynamic furniture.

'LS_StreamingLevel': the (exact) name of the scenario sub level.

There are 3 generic preview images in the ArchVizUI/UI folder.

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TIP: If you decide to only use one scenario level then add the level to the list of streaming levels in the Project Settings (further up). Then un-tick the box for 'Use Scenarios' to avoid having a feature with only one choice.

Unreal Documentation

Object Swaps allow the user to choose between different static meshes. Read more further down this tutorial.

'CS_Name': name of the scheme.

All main menu icons used in the UI are listed here. You can replace an icon with your own design or any of the spare ones in the UI/Icons folder. Sometimes it is useful to change the icons. If you use the scenario feature for layout scenarios then the sun icon would be inappropriate and should be something like the couch or the fridge instead.

The icon texture needs to be black on white (no alpha) and square.

This is purely cosmetic. Do not remove or add an icon and do not change the order of the icons here.

Make a backup copy before you start changing.

Double click the DefaultUI_Font in the content browser to open the font. Then replace the font styles inside this actor with the font of your choice. There are plenty of free fonts available that are supported by unreal.

IMPORTANT: Remember that renaming the DefaultUI_Font actor will actually create a reference to the new name in all the widgets. You have to update the actor itself to change the font. The name needs to stay as DefaultUI_Font.

Colour Scheme Materials

'Asset Material ID': the material id of the assets for this group.

> Material - the list of materials the user can swap to.

If "Colour Schemes" are enabled the first entries will be used for them. material [0] will be used for colour scheme [0] and so on. Any additional materials will only show up in the "Individual Material Swap" feature.

Use this only for materials like the shade of a lamp. I'll explain further down how to set up the material for this feature to work.

Colour Scheme Preview

Preview Mesh: Choose a mesh from the content browser to be used for the preview. This mesh will use the material from asset group array [0]. The mesh you use for the preview doesn't always need to be the mesh you actually use in the level.

Leave the default cube for tiling materials (like wallpaper or floor boards)

'Preview Mesh Angle': adjust the viewing angle between top and front view.

This uses an 'IF' node and a scalar parameter. If the parameter named LightIsOn is set to zero the emissive will be zero. Any positive value will enable the emissive and the light appears to be on.

The UI actor (light switcher or asset group) will set the parameter named 'LightIsOn' to '1' or '0' depending on the 'scenario tick box' being ticked or not.

Use EXACTLY the name 'LightIsOn' as shown in the image here. There are a few materials set up this way in the example project.

It is like the BP_SDotAssetGroup but it has only one group array. Instead of the lighting tick-boxes it has an overwrite feature for changing materials per lighting scenario.

You can use this blueprint actor if you have an emissive material that doesn't have the above mentioned 'LightIsOn' parameter node set up.

Add static meshes and materials the same way as for the asset group actor.

Material Overwrite

'Lighting Scenario ID': the Lighting Scenario that should have overwrite materials

Material - You need to add a material for each Colour Scheme even if they are all the same.

In this example the ceiling light should be emissive when lighting scenario [2] is active. This means for both color schemes the light's material should be overridden with the 'ON' version for LightingScenarioID [2].