04 Unreal for Construction Build the Elevator Area

Session 4 Summary: Modeling the Lift in Unreal Engine 5.6

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🔄 Project Setup

• Continued from previous session using apartment_set3.zip.

• Opened the apartment_set3_ceilings level and saved as apartment_04_lift_and_stairs.

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🧱 Lift Shaft Modeling (Stilt Floor)

• Created outer lift shaft: 1.3m × 1.3m × 2.4m (for ground floor).

• Created inner hollow space: 1.2m × 1.2m × 2.3m.

• Used Boolean (A − B) to create lift walls with thickness.

• Named mesh: lift_area.

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🚪 Lift Door Opening

• Created door cutout: 90cm (W) × 210cm (H).

• Aligned and used Boolean difference to cut out door space.

• Rotated and aligned lift to proper entry side of the apartment.

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🧱 Lift Shaft Base Cut in Site Mesh

• Created small box (128cm × 128cm) to cut hole in sm_site_area using Boolean difference.

• Updated site mesh with new boolean cutout for lift foundation alignment.

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⬆️ Stacking Lift Shafts Across Floors

• Used XForm Pattern tool to duplicate lift shaft up to all floors (Z-axis).

• Adjusted heights for floor variations:

  • Ground floor: 2.4m

  • All other floors: 3m

• Renamed as:

  • lift_area_1 (2.4m)

  • lift_area_2, lift_area_3 (3m mid)

  • lift_area_4 (3m top)

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🕳️ Lift Movement Path (Vertical Shaft Cuts)

• Created smaller box (110cm × 110cm) to simulate lift's vertical path.

• Used Boolean (A − B) to cut top and bottom holes in each lift mesh for continuity.

• Ensured complete lift shaft openness through all floors.

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🧾 Static Mesh Conversion & Naming

• Converted all lift areas to static meshes:

  • sm_lift_area_2.4m

  • sm_lift_area_3m

  • sm_lift_area_3m_top

• Removed redundant intermediate mesh (sm_lift_area_3).

• Optimized by sharing the same mesh for mid-floors (2 & 3).

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🎨 UV Mapping & Material Application

• Applied UV Unwrap (Polygroup-based) on all static meshes.

• Applied consistent material: ML_Pillar_Concrete for visual realism.

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✅ End Result

• Fully functional and optimized lift shaft with:

  • Internal walls

  • Openings per floor

  • Door cuts and base cut in floor mesh

• Ready for staircase modeling in next session.

03 Unreal for Architects Build Pillars and Ceilings

🏗️ Session 3 Summary: Creating Pillars and Ceilings in Unreal Engine 5.6

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🔄 Project Setup

• Continued from previous session using apartment_set2.zip.

• Saved a new working level as apartment_02_with_pillars.

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🧱 Pillar Creation and Placement

• Pillar dimensions: 1ft × 2ft, height: 12.15m (converted to cm).

• Created as a dynamic mesh, then converted to a static mesh named SM_Pillar.

• Positioned 18 pillars as per stilt floor plan using:

  • Manual placement for the first pillar.

  • XForm Pattern Tool to duplicate and space additional pillars.

  • Accurate placement via axis calculations (e.g., moved by 3.8m, 5.96m, 1.47m).

• Used align tools to align and position rows of pillars.

• Named pillars systematically (e.g., SM_Pillar_1 to SM_Pillar_18).

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🎨 Material Application to Pillars

• Downloaded "Smooth Precast Concrete" material from FAB plugin.

• Applied material to the base mesh so all instances reflect it.

• Reset overridden instance materials for consistency.

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🧱 Ceiling Construction (Floor Slabs)

• Calculated ceiling size: width 10.19m, depth 14.61m, height 15.24cm.

• Subtracted area for staircase and lift (3.8m × 3m) using Boolean Difference.

• Renamed assets as SM_Ceiling, SM_SiteArea.

• Aligned ceiling height to match architectural levels:

  • Ground Floor at 2.4m

  • First Floor at 5.4m

  • Second Floor at 8.4m

  • Third Floor at 11.4m

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🧩 Final Adjustments

• Repositioned pillars to avoid intersecting with staircase/lift space.

• Converted ceiling mesh to static mesh and applied concrete material.

• Ensured alignment and material consistency.

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✅ End Result

• Completed all 18 pillars and 4 floor slabs for ground to third floor.

• Scene now includes site, compound, gate, pillars, and ceiling/floor slabs.

• Saved progress in apartment_03_ceiling level.

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🚀 Next Session:

Begin modeling the staircase and lift area using the remaining structural details.

02 Design the Compound Wall Architecture in Unreal Engine 5 6

Session 2 Summary: Building the Compound Wall and Gate in Unreal Engine 5.6

• 🔄 Project Setup
• Continued from previous session using apartment_set1 project.
• Opened apartment_01 level from /Content/Maps.
• 🧱 Compound Pillar Creation
• Pillar dimensions: 1.5ft × 1.5ft × 6ft (converted to cm).
• Used prebuilt asset from FAB's wall_bundle → duplicated and named sm_compound_pillar.
• Scaled, moved, and edited using polygroup edit to fit exact measurements.
• Placed:
• 4 Front Pillars (using Pattern tool)
• 4 Back Pillars (duplicated from front)
• 4 Left Pillars and 4 Right Pillars (placed using X-axis pattern & align tool)
• Renamed each pillar for organization.
• 🚪 Gate Installation
• Gate dimensions: 12ft (W) × 0.5ft (D) × 6ft (H).
• Used fence_metal_a_tall_a asset → duplicated as sm_main_gate.
• Edited dimensions using polygroup edit to match gate placeholder box.
• Aligned and positioned perfectly between front pillars.
• 🧱 Compound Wall Setup
• Wall dimensions: 12ft (W) × 1ft (D) × 4.5ft (H).
• Used pillar-less wall from wall_bundle → duplicated as sm_compound_wall.
• Adjusted height using polygroup edit to match design.
• Duplicated and positioned for:
• Front (2 walls)
• Right (5 walls)
• Left (5 walls)
• Back (3 walls)
• Named each wall segment (e.g., compound_wall_right_2, etc.)
• Used boolean union for combining front walls.
• ✂️ Site Area Cleanup
• Edited sm_site_area mesh using polygroup editing to fit within walls.
• Removed excess area under gate using a boolean subtraction (A–B) with a box mesh.

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✅ End Result

• Fully constructed and aligned compound with pillars, gate, and walls around the site.
• All elements are cleanly named, positioned, and optimized.
• Ready for the next step: Building the actual apartment structure.

 

01 Get Free Materials from Polyhaven and Fab to build Site Area

Summary: Converting 2D Plan into 3D Walkthrough in Unreal Engine 5.6 – Session 1

• ✅ Introduction & Objective

  • Kickstarted a new series on converting a 2D structural apartment plan into a 3D walkthrough for virtual film production.

• 📐 Site Setup

  • Used a 40ft × 60ft site (12.19m × 18.28m) as per the given plan.

  • Resources like houseplan_images.zip and apartment_set_01.zip were imported.

• 🧱 Project Initialization

  • Created a new Unreal Engine 5.6 project named apartment_set.

  • Set up environment lighting using the Environment Light Mixer (Skylight, Directional Light, Sky Atmosphere, etc.)

• 🌍 Creating Ground Plane

  • Modeled a large static mesh ground using Modeling Mode > Box (10,000cm × 10,000cm × 60cm).

  • Applied a custom ground material using 4K textures from PolyHaven.

• 🎨 Material Creation Basics

  • Created a material named ground, connected base color, displacement, normal, roughness, and specular maps.

  • Enabled Nanite Tessellation for realistic ground displacement.

• 📏 Plot Boundary Placement

  • Modeled and placed a site boundary mesh (SM_Site_Area) using plan dimensions.

  • Applied tiled material using a free asset from FAB plugin (e.g., hexagonal tiles).

  • Adjusted UVs with Unwrap and Transform UV for correct tiling scale.

• 🧱 Importing Prefabs from FAB

  • Installed FAB UE Plugin, downloaded free wall bundle (compound wall assets).

  • Imported 183 wall assets for use in the next phase (compound construction).

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📌 Next Session Preview:

Begin modeling and placing the compound walls around the site using imported wall prefabs.

12 create minars and complete Gol Gumbaz Model in Unreal Engine

🕌 Session 12 Summary – Final Modeling of Gol Gumbaz Structure

🧱 1. Project Setup

• Opened Golgumbus_part3 project from Patreon zip.

• Deleted temporary projection mesh inside the dome area.

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🕳️ 2. Cutting Open the Central Dome

• Created a cylinder (radius: 2100) and used Trim tool on main structure to open up the top.

• Adjusted cylinder height to fix gap manually (−40 units on Z).

• Later switched to Boolean (A−B) for a cleaner cut (avoiding visible gap caused by Trim).

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🗼 3. Creating a Single Minar (Minaret)

• Created a cylinder (radius: 300) as minar base.

• Extended top using Push Pull and scaled upper section.

• Added Insert Edge Loops (8 cuts per side) and selected alternate faces.

• Applied Push Pull (30 units) on selected faces for decorative pattern.

• Created top dome inset using Inset + Push Pull (60 units up/down).

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🏛️ 4. Hollowing the Minar

• Created a smaller inner cylinder (radius: 290).

• Used Boolean (A−B) to subtract and create inner walls.

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🚪 5. Adding Decorative Door Arches

• Reused SM_door_1 mesh.

• Scaled down (0.08) and rotated to match each side.

• Placed 8 door arches around the minar using Alt + drag + rotate.

• Merged them into one mesh and used Boolean (Difference A−B) to cut clean door openings into minar.

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⛓️ 6. Minar Vertical Stacking

• Used Pattern Tool (Z-axis) to stack minar segments vertically (height adjusted to 4200 units).

• Tweaked vertical spacing with offset (−30) to avoid visible gaps.

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🪜 7. Spiral Staircase Inside Minar

• Created spiral stairs (angle: 360°, inner radius: 110).

• Adjusted steps (width: 100, count: 18) to match each floor height.

• Repeated staircase across all floors manually using Alt + drag.

• Named and organized stair components (stairs_1 to stairs_11).

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🔺 8. Adding Top Dome

• Copied dome from main structure.

• Scaled down to 0.15 and aligned on top of minar.

• Applied Bake Transform to apply scale/rotation cleanly.

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📦 9. Merging and Duplicating Minars

• Grouped stairs and domes under minar_main.

• Copied and placed 4 minars at each corner of Gol Gumbaz using Alt + drag.

• Slightly repositioned each minar to avoid overlapping.

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🖼️ 10. Adding Arch Pattern Design on Walls

• Reused arch patterns, applied Pattern (Linear) tool.

• Rotated and placed them along all four building sides.

• Final adjustments made to width (4750 units).

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📸 11. Finalization

• Saved all.

• Instructed students to take a high-resolution screenshot of the final model.

• Mentioned next session will cover Voxel-based tools.

11 Edit Imported and Market Place Meshes in Unreal Engine 5 6

Session 11 Summary – Fixing Normals, Assembling Doors, Mesh Editing, and Projection Tool

🔧 1. Import & Fix Blender Export Normals

• Imported door_edited.fbx from Blender into Unreal.

• Identified rendering issue due to flipped normals (red face orientation in Blender).

• Fixed normals using Mesh > Normals > Flip in Blender and re-exported FBX.

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🚪 2. Door Assembly in Unreal

• Imported 4 components of the door: full frame, top, bottom, single door.

• Used XForm > Edit Pivot to set accurate pivot points for animation-ready rotation.

• Assembled components and positioned precisely using front and right views.

• Parented door top and bottom to the single door frame for hierarchy.

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🔁 3. Creating Mirrored Doors

• Duplicated and rotated doors manually (instead of using Mirror tool) to allow independent animation of left and right doors.

• Renamed duplicated structures to single_door_left and single_door_right.

• Parented both to the full_door_frame.

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🏛️ 4. Replacing Old Doors with New Doors

• Replaced four original placeholder doors in the main structure.

• Used copy-paste transform method for accurate placement.

• Applied scale adjustment (0.9) to fit door frame precisely into cutouts.

• Ensured proper alignment and rotation (e.g., 90° for rotated doors).

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🧰 5. Mesh Editing Tools for Imported Geometry

• Imported meshes can't be directly edited with polygroup tools.

• Used Tri Select + Create Polygroup to isolate faces based on angle or material.

• Enabled further edits using Model > Polygroup Edit, Push Pull, Inset, etc.

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🧱 6. Mesh Tools Used

Tool	Functionality
Tri Select	Selects faces using angle, material, connected topology
Triangle Edit	Allows direct manipulation at triangle level (extrude, push, etc.)
Fill Hole	Closes mesh holes
Weld	Merges duplicate vertices and edges
Union	Combines two meshes into one
Jacket	Fixes overlapping or inverted mesh topology
Simplify	Reduces triangle count while preserving shape
Remesh	Subdivides mesh for finer surface detail editing
Auto UV	Generates UVs for imported meshes
Displace	Uses texture maps to emboss/displace geometry (used door flower texture)

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🌸 7. Texture-Based Displacement

• Applied Remesh to door top and bottom to increase geometry resolution.

• Used Auto UV for texture mapping.

• Applied Deform > Displace using door_texture with intensity -20 and UV scale 2x2 to emboss floral design.

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🔁 8. Mirroring & Duplicating Final Doors

• Adjusted pivot, grouped left/right doors under main door frame.

• Duplicated and placed new doors in all four cutouts of Golgumbaz main wall.

• Used manual transformation and parenting for better control.

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🎯 9. Bonus: Project Tool (Advanced Demonstration)

• Created a thin tall mesh and patterned it in a circle around the dome.

• Used Mesh > Project to wrap geometry onto the dome.

• Settings adjusted: Shape Preserving, No Collapse, Triangle Count, Parallel Mode.

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📋 10. Final Notes

• Used Inspect Tool to analyze mesh structure and triangle counts.

• Saved project; session concluded with clean integration of detailed doors and basic projection.

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🏗️ Next Session Preview

• Modeling the 4 Minarets to surround the main Golgumbaz structure

10 Mesh cut and Design Gol Gumbaz Main Structure

Session 10 Summary – Modeling Golgumbaz Main Structure + Blender Integration

🔹 Project Setup

• Opened Golgumbas_part1 project from the Patreon zip file.

• Loaded the Golgumbas map and prepared it for further editing.

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🧱 Modeling the Main Structure in Unreal

• Extended the Dome Cap:

  • Used Tri Select + Create PolyGroup in Mesh menu to group top dome faces.

  • Scaled up to elongate the dome’s top section.

• Created Main Building Block:

  • Used two boxes (outer: 5100×5100×3100 cm, inner: 5000×5000×3000 cm).

  • Aligned both using XForm > Align.

  • Used Boolean (A - B) to hollow out inner space, forming walls.

• Wall Panel Division:

  • Used Insert Edge Loops and Polygroup Edit > Vertex Movement to enlarge center panels.

  • Added Inset + Push Pull on all wall faces to emboss vertical indents.

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🚪 Creating Doorways Using Mesh Cut

• Modeled Arch Door Base:

  • Created a Capsule, cut top and sides using Plane Cut.

  • Refined shape using Deform > Lattice to make it sharper.

• Used Mirror Tool to duplicate and complete the arched door symmetrically.

• Placed Doors on All Four Walls:

  • Duplicated and rotated door blockings for each side.

  • Precisely positioned using top/front views.

• Cut Doors into Main Wall:

  • Used Mesh Cut instead of Boolean:

    • Keeps the cut part as a separate mesh, unlike Boolean which removes it.

  • Renamed results as sm_door_1, sm_door_2, etc.

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🔄 Exporting to Blender for Detailed Door Design

• Exported sm_door_1 to FBX for editing in Blender.

• In Blender 4.4:

  • Deleted default objects, imported door FBX.

  • Traced arch profile using Bezier Curves for the door frame.

  • Applied Bevel Profile Geometry to generate decorative arch.

  • Converted curve to mesh and modeled frame sections (top, bottom).

  • Created inset details and extruded faces for thickness.

  • Ensured symmetry, scaling, and applied transforms.

  • Exported final door components as FBX for Unreal.

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✅ Tools Explored in This Session

Tool	Purpose
Tri Select + Create PolyGroup	Grouping mesh areas for transformation
Boolean (A - B)	Create hollow wall structures
Inset + Push Pull	Create wall indentations and reliefs
Mesh Cut	Cut geometry and keep separated cut piece
Plane Cut	Slice geometry to form custom shapes
Lattice Deform	Refine curved or organic mesh deformation
Mirror	Symmetrically duplicate half geometry
Blender Bezier & Extrude	Create ornate door design for import

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📦 Next Session Preview

• Import detailed Blender FBX door model into Unreal.

• Integrate framed doors into the Golgumbaz main structure.