Exporting to Unreal Engine 5

How to Import OpenBrush FBX files & edit Materials to appear correctly

This example uses models that are best viewed without lighting. In UE5's scene view, change the scene lighting to "UNLIT" (top left of window).

• Drag the FBX from Windows Explorer into the UE5 scene

• An FBX Import Option menu will come up:

  

  Make sure to select: Advanced > Vertex Color Import Option [REPLACE]

Organize Materials, Textures, Mesh Files

• Upon importing the FBX, the Content Drawer will include the meshes and materials

• Create a subfolder for MATERIALS and TEXTURES

• Select the imported materials, drag and drop them into the newly created MATERIALS folder

  
• The materials are pretty terribly named. I highly recommend renaming them. The brush material names are at the end of the filename:

  
• From Windows Explorer, drag optimized PNG brush textures into the UE5 TEXTURES folder:

  
• From the CONTENT DRAWER, drag and drop the meshes into the scene. I recommend creating a folder in the OUTLINER window and drag all the mesh objects into there:

  

  Selecting all the model mesh objects, it may help to update these DETAILS:

  Location: 0,0,0 Scale: 0.5,0.5,0.5

• I also recommend turning off visibility of all the other non-mesh objects in the OUTLINER tab (e.g. Atmospheric Fog, Floor, etc.)

  

Associate Vertex Colors, Textures, Opacity to Materials

Edit Vertex Colors to Materials that only need Vertex Colors:

Material Name	NODE: Vertex Color	NODE: Texture Sample	Material Details
Flat	✓	No	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided
MatteHull	✓	No	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided
UnlitHull	✓	No	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided
Wire	✓	No	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided

• In CONTENT DRAWER > MATERIALS, double click the "Flat" material file. The Material Graph window will popup

• Right click on the empty grid, type in VERTEX COLOR to add the node

Connect the top white dot to BASE COLOR in the "FLAT" window.

• Click on "FLAT" so you can see its DETAILS on the left menu

• Update: BLEND MODE - MASKED Two Sided - [checked]​

That's it! Be sure to save these edits or CTRL + S. The edits won't show up on the main scene window until these Material changes are saved.

• Repeat for the other three materials listed above that only need Vertex Colors associated to the materials.

Edit Materials that need Vertex Colors and Texture Sample:

Material Name	NODE: Vertex Color	NODE: Texture Sample	Material Details
DiamondHull	✓	✓ RGBA connects to Opacity Mask	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided
Dots	✓	✓ RGBA connects to Opacity Mask	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided
DoubleTaperedMarker	✓	✓ RGBA connects to Opacity Mask	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided
Embers	✓	✓ RGBA connects to Opacity Mask	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided
Marker	✓	✓ RGBA connects to Opacity Mask	Blend Mode: MASKED ☑ Two Sided

• Do the same steps above to add VERTEX COLOR to the BASE COLOR

• Do the same steps above to update the Material Details to (same as before): BLEND MODE - MASKED Two Sided - [checked]

• Right click the empty grid space and type in TEXTURE SAMPLE to bring up a node where you'll associate the texture png files

  

  • Click on the TEXTURE SAMPLE node window so you can edit the DETAILS

  • In the section for "Material Expression Texture Base" click on the dropdown to select the texture name that matches with the material name.

    • NOTE: The DoubleTaperedMarker material can use the "Marker" texture

  • Connect the TEXTURE SAMPLE node's "RGBA" dot to the Material's "Opacity Mask" dot

• REPEAT for the other materials with same properties

Edit Materials that need Vertex Colors, Texture Sample, and Transparency:

Material Name	NODE: Vertex Color	NODE: Texture Sample	Material Details
Highlighter	✓	✓ RGBA connects to Opacity	Blend Mode: ADDITIVE ☑ Two Sided
Smoke	✓	✓ RGBA connects to Opacity	Blend Mode: ADDITIVE ☑ Two Sided
SoftHighlighter	✓	✓ RGBA connects to Opacity	Blend Mode: ADDITIVE ☑ Two Sided

• Do the same steps above to add VERTEX COLOR to the BASE COLOR

• Update the Material Details: BLEND MODE - ADDITIVE Two Sided - [checked] "Additive" will allow these brushes to appear semi-transparent, foggy, smokey.

• Do the same steps as above to associate textures to TEXTURE SAMPLE node

• Connect the TEXTURE SAMPLE node's "RGBA" dot to the Material's "Opacity" [not Opacity Mask as previous materials]

• REPEAT for the other materials with same properties

Make sure to save all of your Material window edits!

Make sure to view this in "unlit" mode.

Also hide the Light Source, etc to prevent any shadows from showing up in the scene.

Reward yourself with ice cream.

Docs contributed by Estella Tse. Additional thanks to Steve Bowler