Wesley P Eldridge | Technical Artist
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UE4 Editor Tools Framework

Unreal Editor Tools Framework

 

Project Abstract

An artist and designer friendly, project agnostic interface and framework for rapidly prototyping and rolling out development tools in Unreal Engine 4.

The Problem

Writing tools using the Unreal Blutility framework creates an unwieldly user experience for artists, as all tools are collected together into a mostly context-unaware right-click menu interface. This is further compounded by the problem that there is no context for a tool’s usage until the tool is run.

Goals

  • A central location where all custom content tools can live.

  • A uniform experience for all artists interfacing with custom tools.

  • A uniform experience for tools development which will enable extremely rapid tools prototyping and iteration leveraging Blueprint and UMG Editor Utility Widgets.

  • Project agnostic plug-in structure so tools can be moved between projects quickly and easily.

  • Project aware, so project-specific tools can be written outside of the plug-in structure and included programmatically while keeping the plug-in source clean of project dependencies.

  • Create a library of custom UMG widgets and blueprint macros for common tool development needs.

 
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Features

 

Easy Access via Toolbar button

 

Editor Tools Tour

1. Header - The Logo doubles as a tool interrupt / reset button.

2. Tool categories tabs - List of tools categoies populated programmatically by folder structure in the Plug-in and /game/ folders.

3. Tool list - List of tools in the selected category, populated by found UMGEditorWidget assets.

4. Tool Body - the UMGEditorWidget asset.
 

Rapid Prototyping

Tool creation is fast and streamlined.

  1. Create a new child class of the desired tool template.

  2. Give it an asset name that conforms to the naming standard

  3. Place it in the container folder for the desired tool category, or create a new folder.

  4. Created the desired UI for the tool in the UMG editor

  5. Write out your tool logic in BP and tie it to your UI behaviors.

 
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Feature Roadmap

  • Tool Category filtering leveraging EditorPerProjectUserSettings.ini

  • Create a Editor Tool Creation Tool to further speed up tool creation, including selecting templates and ensure naming standards and folder structures remain clean.

  • Further flesh out the library of templates and UMG widgets

  • UI overhaul and beautification