[CLOSED] [SOLVED] Importing mesh with multiple materials from Cinema 4D?

I use Cinema 4D to model meshes and have come across the very annoying issue of not being able to import a mesh with two materials applied with it still having both applied in UE4? When I import any mesh with more than one materials applied in C4D it creates two materials, but only one slot for a material gets created? Has anyone else come across this problem or is it just me? And has anyone got a solution?

Thanks :slight_smile:

[SOLUTION]
For those suffering this problem:

  1. Apply the materials to the polygons indivdually (not having one applied to the whole thing, and the others only covering their particular parts).
  2. Naming the polygon selections they were applied to 1 for the first one and 2 for the second, etc…
  3. Then import to UE4 MAKING SURE that import materials and import normal maps are checked.
    You’re done!

Hi WarLord,

I’m not that familiar with Cinema4D but I’ll see what I can do to help you out.

What version of FBX exporter and version of Cinema4D are you using when exporting? If it’s an older version there may be a limitation set within Cinema4D or the FBX exporter.

Could you make a test asset and post a link here for me test with? This asset needs to be an exported FBX as I do not have access to Cinemas4D.

Thank you!

Tim

Hi WarLord,

Since I’ve not heard back from you in a few days I’m going to mark this as resolved for our tracking purposes. If you’re still having the issue please feel free to post here and I’ll take a look.

Thank you!

Tim

Sorry! My internet was out the last couple of days and I just got it back today, so I hadn’t seen your post! No, I’m unfortunately still not able to import files with multiple applied materials to C4D :frowning:

I’m exporting aas FBX 2013 (C4D R13 hasnt got 2014 unless I install massive update) and it’s not letting me upload a .fbx?

The options available are to upload the FBX to something like Dropbox and attach the link here for me to download or if you dont want to share the asset you can log into the forums and send me a private message with the link. Either way is fine and I will take a look and see what we can figure out. :slight_smile:

No worries. It happens.

Ok, here is a link to G-Drive, the mesh is a simplish bed with two materials applied in C4D; a brown material, and a white one. :slight_smile:
If you import it into UE4, it will create two materials (both default white) but it will only create one material slot in the static mesh settings, and if you ‘highlight’ it, it will show that it is applied to the whole thing.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzc4g-oh_GxOM1FETWtaMXhLbDA/edit?usp=sharing

Thankyou for helping me :slight_smile:

Thank you for the FBX to test.

I believe the problem you are seeing here is that you do have it setup for two materials and it does have both of them included with the FBX but only one of the materials was applied. (The tan color)

To test that this was the issue I opened your FBX in 3Ds Max.

Here were the steps I took:

I exported the FBX without any changes. It had the multi-material applied but was only using one of the textures > I imported that into UE4 > Import options were set to import textures and combine meshes > Two textures were imported but the materials only listed one channel.

This time, I applied the applied the white texture to the pillows > I then exported as FBX > Imported into UE4 > Import options were set to import textures and combine meshes > two textures were imported and there were two material ids.

This seems to be the issue you’re having. FBX will export all the materials applied within the Multi-sub-object material BUT it will only create a material ID in UE4 for the ones that are applied.

Give this a shot and let me know what happens!

Tim

YES! THANKYOU!!! :smiley:
I just tried this by:

  1. Applying the materials to the polygons indivdually (not having one applied to the whole thing, and the other only covering some)
  2. Naming the polygon selections they were applied to 1 for the first one and 2 for the second, (the way C4D handles applying materials to polygons.) I’d assume you’d continue with three if you had a third, so on…
  3. I then imported to UE4 with import materials, normals and without combine meshes (only one mesh) and… IT WORKED!!! THANKYOU! :smiley: