A New Plugin to Optimize CAD & 3D Models for High Performance, Directly Inside Unreal Engine
The new RapidPipeline plugin for Unreal Engine brings a couple of neat and easy-to-use import and optimization tools directly into the Unreal Editor.
It's no secret that, for quite a while, Unreal Engine has established itself as way more than just a world-leading game engine: With powerful tools for photorealistic rendering, animation, physics simulation, and intuitive visual programming via Blueprints, Unreal is already one of the primary tools for enterprises working with industrial digital twins. No matter if it's about a VR showroom that showcases a product line for B2B sales, rendering to produce high-quality marketing visuals, or a simulation of an entire factory, Unreal Engine has all the tools needed to work with realistic, industrial digital twins.
However, one major challenge many users are still facing is the ingestion of their content. Industrial CAD data sets, for example, have usually been created for engineering purposes, not for visualization, which is why they often require tedious cleanup steps, such as simplification or defeaturing. Data prep steps are sometimes even needed to protect IP, for example, removing the interior parts of a complex electronics device or machine – parts of a 3D model which often aren't needed for visualization either, therefore they should be removed from the visual digital twin. In addition, optimizing 3D models for high rendering performance is also a crucial step for most scenarios, especially with VR applications, where the real-time rendering workload is doubled due to stereoscopic displays.
Enter RapidPipeline for Unreal Engine: with this new plugin, users can leverage secure, 100% local 3D optimization and processing actions, directly inside the Unreal Editor – making 3D and CAD data prep tasks for real-time a breeze.
RapidPipeline for Unreal: One-Click Optimization and Data Prep
The new RapidPipeline plugin comes with a couple of neat advantages: each action that would usually require dedicated tools and sometimes hours of manual work – such as removing all invisible parts from a 3D model – can be performed as a simple one-click action, with a few powerful configuration options where needed.
Features of the plugin include CAD & 3D cleanup functionality, decimation, shrink-wrap remeshing, various workflows for texture atlas baking, invisible geometry removal, culling of small parts, and generation of imposter clouds.
In addition to these features, RapidPipeline also lets you import pretty much all popular CAD formats, directly from within the Unreal Editor – ranging from CATIA and Solidworks to Rhino, PTC Creo and many more.
Unreal Engine Datasmith and RapidPipeline – a Perfect Couple
Now, if you're already an Unreal Engine expert, you might know about Datasmith – and you might be wondering how Datasmith and RapidPipeline are related?
The answer is simple: Datasmith is a great set of tools to get CAD and BIM data conveniently into the Unreal Editor – meaning that it focuses on the import aspect, even for advanced industry software like VRED, where you can directly export to FBX via the dedicated Datasmith exporter plugin.
RapidPipeline, in contrast, allows for file-based CAD & 3D imports directly within the Unreal Editor and focuses on the data prep and optimization features that might be needed to make your CAD and 3D data compliant with all requirements and run fluently, especially inside real-time and VR scenarios.
Looking Ahead
The RapidPipeline Unreal Engine integration continues to evolve, with recent updates introducing new actions like imposter clouds and more advanced CAD tessellation controls. Giving more power to engineers and creators, RapidPipeline also helps to establish Unreal Engine as a central hub for visualization and mixed-reality workflows, for both entertainment use cases and those based on industrial digital twins.
Want to try it?
In case you're curious about RapidPipeline for Unreal Engine, we have good news for you: the integration is available as a free 14-day trial (no credit card needed). You can explore all the features and even chat directly with humans, the RapidPipeline team of 3D tech artists, providing support and answering questions.
