Unable to align material textures on props/static meshes

Hey everyone. I’m a newbie so forgive me. I have done about half the tutorials, so I feel like I already know the answer to this question buuuut…

Am I right in assuming it is not possible to align Materials on a static mesh/prop like you would on a BSP brush? I’m honestly a little shocked at this. Maybe it’s because my test example is pretty mundane and not common in the real world of level design but in my attached screenshot I have 3 wall props from the starter content. I scaled two of them to be smaller and applied the same material to all 3. I would love to align and scale so they all matched, but I clearly can’t, (unless it’s hidden somewhere). I guess I should just be using BSP brushes for such simple geometry, yeah?

Hi Whitehawk,

You would do this by making a Material Instance of the Material you are applying with the UV coordinates converted to a parameter that you can adjust. (Material Instances take way less time to compile than the original material.)
Here’s an example of what I mean: (The rectangle mesh on the left is a duplicate of the mesh on the right scaled in half with a material instance of the wood applied with the “U” set to be .25 from .5)

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Okay thank you very much. :slight_smile: But as for things like “Align planar” and all the other options we have on BSPs, we’re better off using a BSP yeah?

The general rule of thumb is to use BSP as little as possible. It is best practice to use static meshes that are already UV mapped correctly. If you watch some of the introductory videos they explain that the level designers at Epic use BSPs to “rough out” the level then replace them with custom static meshes created by the art team.

Yeah sorry for my poor detail in my wording. I’ve seen all those videos and I agree that static meshes are better, but would you also agree that the negative impact from flat surfaces like floors and walls are extremely low at runtime? Of course I’m not advocating for more BSP use overall, I was just hoping for quick alignment similar to BSP alignment. hehe.

I’ve consulted with the BSP specialists and the consensus is: While BSPs will not cost you Frames per Second in the Editor, they will cost you FPS in a final, packaged game, needlessly.

The good news for the workflow you are describing is that you can set up flat walls and floors as using BSPs, apply the material and adjust the UV’s on the BSP the way you want and then simply convert them to static meshes in the editor (which will even generate your light maps automatically.)

Thanks so much for the confirmation. I appreciate it!

Answer in comments. Closing as resolved. :slight_smile: