Exporting Assets from Fab in Launcher

Fab is an open marketplace for digital creators to share and access a wide range of digital content. Fab offers many access points to these products, including a desktop version through the Epic Games Launcher, known as Fab in Launcher. 

With Fab in Launcher you can discover, download, and export assets for multiple digital content creation (DCC) applications or game engines from one location. 

Use this guide to learn how to:

• Explore assets from the launcher.

• Download assets to a local path.

• Export assets into a DCC or game engine.

• Batch download and export.

Access Fab in Launcher

To use Fab in Launcher you must install the Epic Games Launcher. 

To download and install the launcher from the Fab website, follow these steps:

• Navigate to https://fab.com/about.

• Scroll to the Other ways to access Fab section.

• Click Download Launcher.

• From the download location, open the installer, and follow the on-screen instructions.

After installation, open the launcher and log in using your Epic Games account to access Fab. You must login to your Epic Games account to access products, even free products. The launcher opens with a Fab tab in the left navigation panel under Unreal Engine.

Click the Fab tab to open Fab in Launcher. The launcher has a similar design and workflow to the Fab website. 

You can begin searching for assets, or use the settings icon in the top right to adjust your download and export options. 

To increase your view while browsing, you can collapse the launcher's left navigation panel using the collapse icon.

Fab Settings

Before you begin searching for products, we recommend adjusting your Fab settings for the following: 

• Download file location for assets 

• Default format for assets

• Quality tier for Megascans 

• Default Export target

To access the Fab settings, click the gear icon in the top right of the launcher. Use the Export and Download tabs to set the default values. You set the default option for the file format and export target by clicking the respective dropdown and selecting an option.

By making these adjustments in the Fab settings first, you can save time when downloading and exporting products from a listing. 

From a listing, you can select your download format and export target, but the selection is specific to that listing. You must use the Fab settings to set the file location for assets you download. 

To learn more about downloading assets, see the Download Assets section on this page. 

You can also begin installing the export target plugins for your DCC and game engines by selecting an option from the dropdown. The export plugins provide the means for the target application to import assets from Fab.

Before installing a plugin, follow these steps:

1. Check you have the supported version of the DCC or engine installed on your machine.

2. Launch the DCC or engine once, but close it before installing the plugin. This step helps resolve scenarios where the installer needs the target application opened at least once to find the appropriate installation location for the plugin files.

To learn more about exporting assets, see the Export Assets section on this page.

Search and Acquire

Use the Discover page and search bar to navigate through products. To view a product's listing, click its thumbnail. The listing opens in a floating panel on the right for side-by-side viewing. You can use the double arrows icon to collapse and expand the panel. 

The following table list key commands to adjust the panel. 

When viewing a listing, you can view the product price, included formats, product details, description, and metadata. Use the Formats tab to view the technical details for each included format in the listing. When applicable, you can also view the rating, comments, and frequently asked questions. 

To acquire a product, a listing includes one or a set of the following buttons:

• Add to Library for free content not in your library.

• Buy and Add to Cart for content that you can purchase.

• Download for content in your library.

• Export to send content in your library to an application. Files are automatically downloaded.

To learn more about searching, viewing, and purchasing products, including access for custom Megascan licensees, see Purchasing and Downloading Assets. 

Download Assets

Certain products you add to your library are available for direct download. You can set up your default download format and file location in the Fab settings. 

To download acquired assets, you can use either of the following options:

• From the My Library page, click the download icon on the product thumbnail, and choose your format.

• Open a listing, choose a format if not specified, and click Download only.

Your download progress is available in the Download Manager in the lower-left corner of the launcher. Click the download icon to access the manager. From the manager, you can pause, cancel, or change the queuing order when you have multiple pending downloads.

After download, an On disk label appears on the listing with the number of downloaded formats. On the My library page you can filter by All assets or Assets on disk. 

To access downloaded assets in your file browser you can use either of the following options: 

• In a listing to the right of Download, click the 3 dot icon, and then click Go to files.

• In your file explorer, navigate to the specified file path.

This download workflow helps manage large file types and a catalog of assets. 

Asset File Path

The product file is downloaded to the location specified in your Fab settings. The launcher uses the same path as the download location for assets in the Fab library under the Unreal Engine tab.

To adjust the file path, follow these steps: 

1. Click the Fab settings icon in the top right.

2. In the pop-up window, click the Download tab.

3. Set the path and choose your preferred file format.

The download settings also include options to select your preferred file format and, for Megascans, choose the desired quality tier. 

Export Assets

Certain products you add to your library are available for export to a supported DCC or engine. For a list of supported file formats and applications for exporting, see the DCC and Engine Support section on this page. 

Fab exports products into an application using an export plugin provided through the launcher. The export plugins contain the functionality to extract and send content to the target application. When you select an export target in the listing for the first time, a prompt appears under the dropdown to install the plugin. The launcher adds the plugin to the appropriate file location.

You can use the Fab settings to install the plugins for all the applications you already have. You can also set your default export target. The setting is persistent across listings, in that, you can specify the target once instead of every time you want to export content.

To export content, follow these steps:

1. Ensure you have the supported version of the DCC or engine installed on your machine.

2. Open the listing.

3. Click the Export target dropdown  to choose an application if you need an option other than the default.  

   1. On first use, a prompt appears under the dropdown to install the plugin. Click Install plugin, and click it again in the pop-up window. If the target application is open before installing the plugin, close it. 

   2. After installation, open the application to import content.

4. Click the Format dropdown to select a file format if you need an option other than the default. 

5. Click Export.  A progress message appears indicating whether the import into the target application was successful or not.

The export plugins are downloaded to the following path:

• Windows: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\FabPlugins

  • The AppData folder is hidden by default. To learn how to view it, see the View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows Microsoft article.

• Mac: /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Epic/FabPlugins

These plugin files are open to modification to fit your workflow needs. Fab in Launcher and the export plugin usage falls under the guidelines in the Epic Games Terms of Service. 

If you experience errors with exporting, check the common problems in the Export Plugin Troubleshooting section on this page. 

DCC and Engine Support

Fab in Launcher supports one-click exports for standard exchange formats across popular engines and DCCs such as Unreal Engine, Cinema4D, and Maya. 

The table below lists the supported versions and renderers for each application the launcher can export to.

For Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), you can use the desktop app to search and add products to your library. To add assets to your Fortnite island, you must use the in-editor integration. To learn more, see the Import from Fab Fortnite documentation. 

The table below lists the supported file formats for each application.

For Quixel Megascans, .fbx is the optimal format for importing into DCCs, Unity, and UE versions below 5.3. For UE 5.3 and higher, .gtlf is the optimal version. 

Custom Export Workflow

The export target includes the option to create a custom export workflow using a disk location or socket port for your pipeline needs. 

Custom Disk Location

The Custom (disk location) export option copies your downloaded asset to another location you set.

To create your custom disk workflow, follow these steps:

• Click the Fab settings icon in the upper-right corner.

• Click the Export Target option, and choose Custom (disk location).

• In the Export Location option, set the local path to copy the asset to.

• Navigate to a listing, set the export target to Custom (disk location), and choose a file format.

• Click Export.

Custom Socket Export

For teams creating custom plugins for a DCC, the launcher includes an export target option to connect the application. Use the Custom (socket port) export target to customize the export plugin for your production needs.

Exports use a socket connection by means of a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port, and information about the asset and map files is shared through JSON data. This means the data is sent over the local socket port to the receiving application.

Your custom plugin should use the same port as the application to receive the JSON data, which contains information like the original asset folder path, asset name, textures, and mesh information. This information is known as the payload. Your script can read and load these files, and import them into your application. 

To create the custom socket port workflow, you must be familiar with creating custom plugins for your desired application, including familiarity with the API.

Below are the general steps for creating a custom plugin for your DCC:

1. Set up the plugin structure for your DCC following the API.

2. Implement a TCP server that listens for incoming data from the launcher on a specific port number.

3. Convert the data into DCC assets using the JSON information.

To connect the plugin to your custom socket port in Fab, follow these steps:

1. Click the Fab settings icon in the upper-right corner.

2. Click the Export Target dropdown, and choose Custom (socket port).

3. In the Socket Port option, add the port number to specify the port where you want to export the asset.

   1. The socket port number ranges from 1024 to 65536.

4. Navigate to a listing, set the export target to Custom (socket port), and select a file format.

5. Click Export.

After you click Export, the system sends a signal with the payload information and the port number to your plugin. 

The following code block is an example Python executable that connects the socket from the application to Fab to pass the payload information. You can adapt the script with your custom import code.  

# coding=utf-8

import socket
import json
import traceback
import queue
import threading
import time
import traceback

Export Plugin Troubleshooting

When exporting assets you may experience plugin installation errors or other issues. This section covers some common fixes for export plugins. 

Before installing a plugin, follow these steps:

1. Check you have the supported version of the DCC or engine installed on your machine.

2. Launch the DCC or engine once, but close it before installing the plugin. This step helps resolve scenarios where the installer needs the target application opened at least once to find the appropriate installation location for the plugin files.

If, after installing the plugin, you’re seeing export errors, check the following:

• If the format is supported for the export target. To learn more, see the DCC and Engine Support section on this page.

• If the application that you’re exporting to is running. If so, try re-launching it.

• If you installed a new version for a DCC or engine, but did not update the installed plugin. You can view the version you installed the plugin for in the Fab settings.

• If folders are locked from writing new files.

• For Unity, check the on-screen instructions for installing the plugin, or that you installed the plugin for the new project.

If errors continue with the plugin, try to reinstall it. To reinstall, or to simply remove the plugin, follow these steps:

• Close the launcher and export target.

• Delete the file from disk location:

  • Windows: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\FabPlugins

  • Mac: /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Epic/FabPlugins

• Open the launcher, and install the export plugin for reinstallation.

If the asset does not appear as expected in the application after export, try to import the file to the application manually for comparison. If the content matches then it's by design, otherwise submit a report of the issue to the support team at https://support.fab.com. 

When exchange formats are exported to the DCC or engine, in some cases, the content may not be fully set up depending on how a publisher packaged their content or how the target tool handles importing. To learn more about packaging assets as a publisher, see Setting up Assets for Fab in Launcher.   

The Epic Games Launcher tracks errors through log files, which can help you and the Fab support team diagnose an error. To access the logs:

• Click the Epic Games Launcher settings icon in the lower-left corner of the launcher.

• Click Show Logs. The file explorer opens to the Logs folder.

• Double-click the EpicGamesLauncher text file.

To learn more about accessing logs for the launcher, see How do I gather logs for Epic Games Launcher article.  From the logs you can view Fab plugin errors, for example, LogFabPluginsManager: Error: Plugin installation failed - 3ds Max versions 2024, 2025, 2026 not found. This error means either the application is not installed or has not been opened at least once. 

If you are unable to resolve an error, send your logs to the Fab support team. 

Batch Download and Export

With Fab in Launcher you can batch assets for download and export. To batch assets means selecting multiple products at the same time to perform the same action. 

To multi-select products, use Ctrl + Click for Windows or Cmd + Click for Mac. The assets are added in floating panels on the right of your screen, grouped by their state, that is, if they’re free, to be purchased, downloaded, or exported. 

The state of the assets determines the batch action you can perform: 

• Add to library

• Add to cart

• Download

• Export