Exporting an iModel to Unreal with filters

Introduction

This tutorial guides you through filtering your iTwin’s content while exporting it to the Datasmith format for use in Unreal.

If you encounter problems while using this tutorial, we recommend first completing the combined-mesh export tutorial which is more thorough.

Prerequisites

This tutorial assumes that you have:

Unreal Engine 4.26.1 or later installed.
- We recommend installing Unreal before the iTwin Exporter for Datasmith app. Unreal installs components needed by both applications. If you would like to install the iTwin Exporter for Datasmith first, you must install the necessary components manually. Upon startup the application detects if the components are missing and provides you with links to navigate to their installers.
the iTwin Exporter for Datasmith application installed.
- To download the installer, please visit the iTwin for Unreal page and click Download Now.

1. View your iModel

Open the iTwin Exporter for Datasmith, sign in, and select your project and iModel. Click the View to open the iModel and to use the interactive filtering tools.

On the right side of the viewport, use the Tree View widget to toggle the visibility of portions of your iModel. Hide models and elements via the Model Tree, the Categories, or Spatial Containment. Below, we hide one model with all of its contained elements.

3. Hide by viewport selection

You may also visually select and hide models and elements. With the default selection tool active, left-click elements to select them, hold control to add to your selection. Then use the visibility tools in the top left side to hide your selection among other operations.

Make sure to change your selection scope in the bottom-right of the viewport if you want to select individual elements, the default is to select top-level assemblies.

4. Use a saved view

You can save the viewport visibility state as a Saved View using the Saved View widget. A Saved View enables you to load it again for future exports, or load it as a baseline for visibility changes before exporting.

5. Export the current view

Press the Advanced Export tool button to open the Advanced Export dialog. Select View in the Filter By dropdown. The default View Name is the current view. To filter the export using a different view, use the View Name dropdown to select it. The View Name dropdown lists any View Definitions or saved views associated with your iModel.

6. Additional filtering options

Hover over options in the Advanced Export dialog for explanatory tooltips for every option. Advanced users may filter by ECSQL Query for programmatic control of iModel contents considered for export.