Add ThirdParty project to my project

anonymous_user_39d6b9431 · September 7, 2016, 6:47pm

UE4 has the ability to import and export FBX files, using the Autodesk FBX SDK located in UnrealEngine/Engine/Source/ThirdParty/FBX.

The project I’m writing allows players to create their own models in-game, and I would like to include a way for players to export them to FBX. Since the UE4 sources already contain the SDK, can I link to those files and compile them into my project?

Within my ProjectName.Build.cs file, I’ve added the line

AddThirdPartyPrivateStaticDependencies(Target, "FBX");

which allows me to #include "fbxsdk.h" without getting compiler errors (yay!) but past this, I’m unsure what else I would need to do in order to compile and link the file dependencies.

Linking Static Libraries Using The Build System looks like it’s more about extending the UE4 project itself rather than allowing me to include this feature in my own game.
Thirdparty Library for Game seems like they had to just include the 3rd party sources into their project, which I suppose I could do instead of just using the one already provided under UE4’s ThirdParty directory.
Statically Link an External DLL might also be viable, but it’s starting to go over my head.

Advice, including links to pages that show how to do this, is appreciated. I don’t mind doing my homework: I just need to know what direction I need to be going in order to properly Google the right stuff.

mortmaire · September 13, 2016, 3:28pm

Honestly, when I tried to implement the PCL library for over a week, I went with the third option - creating dll’s is not that hard (I’m going to write a tutorial about it) and it shortens the compiling time of your project - the dll file is a ‘black box’ for your project, where you give input and receive output - for the other hand, if you include lot of headers and libraries just to add one function in game, compiling time will be longer - and you compile a lot!