Here is a trick that I like to use when blocking out my levels!

Did you know you can combine multiple static mesh actors in your level into a new single static mesh actor?

If you would prefer to watch the video version, check it out here

This is really useful if you are going to be using the same things again and again and want to keep consistency. Below I have a blockout street lamp made in-engine out of three primitive shapes.

Before I knew about today’s tip I would group the items together by selecting the 3 parts, right-clicking and hitting group. This makes it easier to move assets around.

This method is certainly useful but it has its downsides, especially if you end up using this blockout asset hundreds of times in your level. It is a bit messy as if we look in the world outliner it is still three meshes as well as a group.

A better way to do this and the topic of todays quick dev tip would be to combine these static mesh actors into one new single mesh. We can do this by selecting all the parts again. Right-click and go to Convert Actors To Static Mesh. You will need to pick a folder location in your project and give it a name. When you click okay a new single static mesh actor will be created which is the three assets combined.

You can now drag this new asset out into the level and use it like you would any other asset.

And the good thing about this is that as we can see in the world outliner it is a single asset.

One downside to this method is that it won’t merge materials that are the same together which is not ideal, as having lots of material IDs is less optimised.

However, if needed we can quickly overcome this now that the mesh is one actor by Right-clicking on the asset in the content browser going to Asset Actions --> Export. You can then pop it into your 3D program of choice fix the material IDs and reimport it into the engine.

It seems to be the same process in the Early Access version of Unreal Engine 5. The UI is slightly different but as you can see from the GIF below it is almost identical.

Grouping assets is still a very valid method and I think makes more sense if you need to adjust the different mesh parts e.g. by unlocking tweaking and then locking again. But if you have something that shouldn’t be changing then combining those assets into a single asset makes a lot of sense and helps to create consistency across your design. A good example of how I use this when blocking out is that I make stairs out of primitives in-engine, when I am happy with the angle and the scale I will merge it into one asset using the method we talked about above!

If you want more quick tips & tricks FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @cbGameDev

Also, check out the parkour game I'm solo developing called Freerunners. Give it a wishlist if you like the way it looks!: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1430330/Freerunners/