The Gradientspace UE Toolbox is an extension plugin for Unreal Engine 5 that aims to improve the Editor-side content creation process. This includes basic Editor Quality-of-Life features, Workflow-enhancing Tools to make you more efficient, and new types of utility Actors, Components and Assets that can help you build Real-Time Content.

Jump to [Downloads], [Installation Instructions], or [Frequently Asked Questions]

Feature Overview

The Gradientspace UE Toolbox adds a suite of features to the Unreal Editor and Engine, ranging from basic Editor Quality-of-Life improvements to significant extensions to in-Editor 3D content creation. The video below is a quick 5-minute intro to the feature set in the initial 0.1 release of the Toolbox. Scroll past the video for a text-based high-level summary of the feature set, with links to more extensive documentation.

Gradientspace Modeling Mode Extension

Currently the Toolbox is primarily exposed as an Extension to Unreal Editor’s modeling Mode, which adds a Gradientspace Tab with a new set of Tools.

• Import Mesh - import meshes with support for converting imported Polygons to Polygroups, and direct import as a DynamicMesh (currently only OBJ format)

• Export Mesh - an improved multi-mesh export process with many controls for naming, combining, groups-to-polygons, and transforming to common DCCs (currently only OBJ format)

• QuickMove - a utility tool for quickly positioning Actors using various direct-manipulation methods, tuned for rapid gizmo-free interaction (and including support for scene collision!)

ModelGrid Objects and Tools

A ModelGrid is a new type of 3D shape representation, based on a uniform grid of cells where each cell can be filled with a fixed set of parametric mesh elements. The goal is to go beyond the standard “3D voxel cubes” approach while still staying in the realm of a discretized, easily-understandable shape vocabulary that directly translates into large-scale world representation. ModelGrid objects can be used for Level Design and Blockout, authoring Collision Shapes, a starting point for hard-surface/SubD modeling, or as a fun way to create stylized content for your game!

Our suite of ModelGrid Components and Tools is a work-in-progress, and currently includes:

• ModelGrid Actor, Component, and Asset, with support for In-Level and Asset-backed modes

• ModelGrid Editor with many different tools for creating shapes and painting

• Grid resizing, cropping, flipping, setting the pivot, etc

• Import Grids (Magica Voxel .vox format, convert image to grid)

• Rasterize selected Meshes into a ModelGrid

• Convert a ModelGrid to a Dynamic or Static Mesh, with various mesh optimization strategies

Editor Quality-of-Life Improvements

There are just some features that Unreal Editor is missing, things that could be implemented, and should be implemented, but are not. Things that might not look as slick, but will save a lot of clicks. From time to time we get the urge to do something about these, for our own sanity. So far we have:

• Startup Editor Mode - configure which Editor Mode to switch to when starting the Editor or opening a new Level

• Mode Buttons - Add buttons to the Main Toolbar to quickly jump to different Editor Modes (customizable)

Documentation, Tutorials & Help

Documentation for this plugin is still a work-in-progress. In the meantime, feel free to ask for help on available social media channels:

Click the UE version numbers below to download the corresponding zip archives of the plugin

Version 0.1.3 // Windows Win64 // [ UE 5.3 ] [ UE 5.4 ] [ UE 5.5 (Preview 1) ]

Looking for an Older Version? Download it here…

Note: your browser may initially refuse to download these .zip files, and let you know that they are “suspicious” because they are “not commonly downloaded”. That’s life for an independent developer!! You should be able to get a button to come up to download them anyway.

Note that at this time, only Win64 Editor platforms are supported. Although packaged game builds can be created that contain ModelGrid Actors and Assets, they are Experimental and not intended to be shipped in a production game - see the Installation notes!

Currently this Plugin is only provided as a pre-built Binary Plugin, ie Source Code is not included. We are still working on a way to distribute Source for the Unreal-dependent parts of the Plugin, in a way that is sustainable long-term (See the FAQ for details). We are looking for a few interested Indies & Studios willing to prototype our Source Access program, if this sounds like you, please contact rms@gradientspace.com with details.

Essentially, the contents of the precompiled-binary Plugin zip files above just need to be placed in a suitable location where Unreal Engine will find them. We intend to provide an automated installer in the future, but for now you will need to do this unzip-and-copy manually, using Windows Explorer. You can place the plugin at one of two locations, either at the level of your UE Project, by placing the plugin in the folder:

<UEProjectFolder>\Plugins\GradientspaceUEToolbox

Or you can install the plugin inside the Unreal Engine launcher/binary installation folder, where Marketplace plugins are also installed:

<EngineInstallationFolder>\Engine\Plugins\Marketplace\GradientspaceUEToolbox

For a step-by-step breakdown of doing this installation, or notes on more advanced configurations like using the precompiled binary plugin with an Engine source build, see the in-depth Installation and Upgrading Notes.