Learn to Create Custom Static Meshes for Unreal Engine 4!

Organize your workflow by creating three project folders for Maya, Unreal Engine 4, and non-Maya files, then set up a consistent folder structure for custom static meshes, textures, and references.

Explore the included project files for Unreal Engine 4, organized into folders for textures, meshes, and scenes, and learn how to import content into the project.

Configure Maya LT and Unreal Engine 4 workflows for static meshes by setting projects, customizing the interface, enabling poly count, and organizing content folders to align with Unreal Engine 4.

Create an Unreal Engine 4 scene with a 60 by 60 by 180 character reference to ensure correct scale, using a mannequin for accuracy.

Export a simple static mesh from Maya LT to Unreal Engine 4 by using export selection or send to Unreal, and enable smoothing groups, triangulate, and automatic units.

Understand how pivot points control move, scale, and rotate, and how exports reset pivots to world origin. Learn to modify and snap pivots to grid for Unreal Engine 4 exports.

Master two modeling methods for game environment art: low poly to high poly and high poly to low poly, and bake normal maps for Unreal Engine 4.

Create a high-poly mesh from a low-poly wall, using subdivision modeling and insert edge support to prepare for normal map baking in Unreal Engine 4.

Learn to uv map a low-poly mesh, arrange shells inside zero to one space with padding, and create and assign Unreal Engine 4 material for textures and normal maps.

Learn to define hard and soft edges and smoothing groups on low-poly models, preview with soft edge display, and bake accurate normal maps for Unreal Engine 4.

Export and import your normal map into Unreal Engine 4, apply it to the material, flip the green channel, and organize Photoshop texture file for albedo, normal map, and roughness.

Learn to manage light maps in Unreal Engine 4 by understanding static versus dynamic mobility, UV channels for light maps, and baking lights for accurate shadows and lighting.

Learn to create efficient collisions for Unreal Engine 4 static meshes, using box, sphere, or capsule bounds, and choosing auto or manual collision methods with per-poly or simplified options.

Create custom collision in Maya LT for Unreal Engine 4 using x_ box, usp_ sphere, and usx_ convex prefixes, keeping shapes convex and avoiding vertex edits.

Rebake normal maps by baking high-poly to low-poly walls, fix overlapping UVs, and update textures and materials in Unreal Engine 4 to produce accurate wall two normal maps and textures.

Create a pbr albedo (diffuse) texture as a neutral base color, free of light or shadow, and prepare it via UV layout and Photoshop edits.

Learn to create a roughness map for unreal engine 4 materials by adjusting a grayscale input from 0 to 1, using constant vectors or textures, and calibrating in linear space.

Wrap up the first module by summarizing foundational topics and how these steps let you create any gaming environment asset or prop, with the second module coming faster.

Apply module two principles to create a higher geometry object. Bake normal and light maps from high to low poly, then export the static mesh to Unreal Engine.

Learn to create a low-poly static mesh for Unreal Engine 4 by modeling a column from a base cube, adding edges, extruding faces, and exporting for in-engine testing.

Learn to create a high-poly column by starting from a low-poly mesh, adding edge loops, smoothing, and preparing for normal maps before exporting to Unreal Engine 4.

Clean up a low poly column UV by removing edges, then set up initial textures and a material in Unreal Engine 4, using planar projection and careful UV layout.

Set hard and soft edges on a low-poly mesh, bake a normal map from high poly to low poly, and apply in Unreal Engine 4.

Create light maps for the static mesh by splitting UV shells at 90-degree edges to prevent light bleed, then set light map resolution to 128 and assign UV channel 1.

Learn to create a cohesive albedo (diffuse) map for Unreal Engine 4 by texturing concrete and brick with dirt decals, using layered, non-destructive workflows in Photoshop and in-game previews.

Create detailed normal maps for Unreal Engine 4 by building brick and concrete passes in Photoshop. Learn to normalize, blend three maps, and handle green channel orientation for proper display.

Apply the full formula to create your own custom static meshes, using the same steps from both modules to craft any variety of game environment assets.