Is it possible to create a .pak from a .fbx in batch mode only?

Hi,

We asked on the Unreal forum (https://.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?119611-uasset-converter&p=577664#post577664) if it was possible to convert a .fbx to a .uasset and to a .pak automatically and without opening the Unreal Engine, only by script… but no one answered… so I would like to ask here the same question… is this possible?

We need this process to convert a lot of .fbx in order to use them in UE4 applications / games.
We generate avatars of people with a “photobooth like” machine and we’re actually working on Unity but we will change and pass our work on this really powerfull engine UE4.

thanks !

Hi nyudeb,

During the FBX import process, UE4 will request a lot of information like:

  • Include Materials?
  • Generate Physics asset?
  • Import Skeleton (if skeletal mesh)?
  • Import Animation and, if so, at what frame rate?
    • a large number of other details

Even now with the added functionality of exporting straight from Maya to UE4, when UE4 detects that Maya is exporting to UE4, the exported asset must pass this “gateway” before being imported into the engine.

That said, what you are asking may be possible but before I research this issue further, are the assets you are trying to batch convert uniform assets like, static meshes for instance? -or are you trying to do this with any/all types of assets?

-.

Hi,

First, thanks for your fast answer.

So our assets are totally uniforms, they follow the same process, they have the same skeleton, the same materials, etc.
We’re actually doing it on Unity but we don’t know how to do it on UE4.

Thanks,

Nyudeb

It is not possible to “convert” a loose FBX file into a PAK file. You must first import the FBX asset into a uasset file (the data format for all content in the engine) before it can be packaged. Additionally PAK files are collections of the referenced assets needed to release and run your project. PAK files can support loose, uncooked, non-asset files but at this time we do not support reading from FBX files at runtime. We are working on a command line tool to import any filetype we support (such as FBX). It would be possible to add an automation step to this in order to package the project. However it sounds like you need this functionality at runtime. In that case you’ll need to implement the ability to import a loose FBX file not in a PAK file and generate a mesh out of that. All this code exists in the editor so it could be used as example of how you would go about doing this.

ok, what we want to do exactly is to convert from .fbx ==> .uasset ==> .pak only in command lines because we want this process to be on a server. (we know we can’t ‘convert’ .fbx → .pak)

Do you have an approximate date for the command line tool ? :slight_smile:

Where can we found the import process (source code/dll/lib) and how we can use it outside of UE4?

The approximate date for the command line tool is the 4.14 release which is currently set for November but that is subject to change.

Look at UFbxFactory for how UE4 imports FBX files. It would be extremely difficult to use this outside of UE4 as the engine must be used to create new asset types.

As 4.14 was released, any documentation on this workflow?

As this is a brand new feature, there is no documentation for this yet. Be advised, it will not create a pak files, just assets.

There is some information about it on my other post with the command line…but it bug.