Unreal Engine 5: How to Convert your Low Poly Meshes to Nanite [Space Opera Ep.01]

Nanite is one of the great new features of Unreal Engine 5, but how do we work with it in a practical way with our current projects? In this video, we're going to look at how to convert your existing meshes over to nanite meshes, how to deal with UVs, and how to preserve your existing texture work.

Aimed at intermediate users with existing UE4 experience, we'll be taking a journey through Maya, ZBrush, and Substance Painter before hitting Unreal. Don't worry though, the techniques will transfer over to any 3D and Texturing software. During this process, we'll cover 3 key elements for conversion:

1. Decimation
2. Transferring UVs
3. Baking for Nanite

Understanding how to turn your game resolution meshes into Nanite versions can help you take control of your game development in Unreal Engine 5.

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CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro: Nanite is Amazing!
1:09 Key Point 1: Decimation
2:25 Key Point 2: Transferring UVs
4:45 Key Point 3: Bakes are Here to Stay
9:16 Importing Nanite Mesh and Textures into Unreal
14:28 Checking the Nanite Mesh with Textures
14:46 Comparing Original Low Poly to Nanite Version
19:32 Outro

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[goldenpacificmedia]

Thanks for your excellent discussion and presentation. I am a newbie to digital objects and really appreciated your pace and your observations.

[petertremblay]

I had a bunch of static ruins mesh that i simply export to UE5 and i use quixel mixer to texture them and they simply look great!

[PedroGarcia-flfu]

I would like to see some day this technology running on old consoles, just for curiosity on ps3 or xbox 360 (just to see how much polygons this old hardwares can hold and what could been if this technology existed in that time), after this technology I think that the best method is the software engine optimization more than hardware capacity, and this UR5 is just the beginning... you can doo much more with much less...could you try something like that? try run this in most imaginable weak hardware? maybe a techdemo runnig on ps2 or 3 even ps1 or in very old pc? nice video !

[chadtheall]

Am I correct in saying that another benefit to transferring assets to Nanite like this one also improves FPS and performance as well no? From my knowledge, Nanite helps take the load off of the GPU strain and does a lot of the performance work itself.

[staticbuilds]

I tried using nanite projects and my ITB storage ran out of space very quickly. Considering most computers come with 500GB I doubt people would like nanite that much if storage does not change so a mix of Nanite models and low poly is probably the best way forward.

[begbarros]

but to convert a low poly mesh into nanite, you can do it via content browser inside unreal..right-click the lp static mesh and enable nanite..what is the problem with such approach? I didn't get it

[Mr_Tea_Rexx]

my rule of thumb is using nanite where the character will see it. like Hero models buildings, cars etc... those id just stick with the low poly cause majority of the time the player wont even notice

[NixCM]

transferring UV's like that always results in too many errors - better to just uv before decimation

[jeofthevirtuoussand]

My main questions coming to this video were :
1) why pushing a 3 million tris mesh when we wouldn't see the difference with a 250 k version of that mesh .

2) since Nanite virtualize Meshes, does it gain any performance if all models were around 250k compared to the 3 millions?

Because there is the storage space problem. And if we don't really see the difference between 250k and 3 millions why wasting storage space?

[karolledzinski]

The most important factor is not how Nanite and Low poly looks but how much time you spend in both. If nanite gave you just a transfer click and that's it is already revolution for me as I truly hate spending long hours on bloody piece of brick uvs and baking normal maps... that is not even playing much role in game strory. Time is revolution not look. As far as I can see Nanite still require uv maps.... That's realy sucks.... and
Disappointment. 😔

[MoldyMagnet]

Why can't you use the original low poly assets?

[sinewzhang]

Hello! Q: After I do mesh configuration in SP, my original painted layer disappeared.... I've tried many times:(
ANYTHING ELSE IS PERFECT!!!

[pekvek]

20 minutes for nothing. Real method is just export it to unreal right click the mesh and enable nanite. Simple