The Modeling Mode tools are mathematically-based tools, meaning they use math to create and edit shapes and their UVs. This tutorial is specifically designed to introduce you to the tools at an entry level.
You’ll create and edit a mesh using basic shapes available in Modeling Mode.
You'll be using the following tools:
Create
XForm (Transform)
Model
Mesh
Bake
UVs
Attribs (Attributes)
By the end of this tutorial, you should have a basic understanding of how to use these tools together to build and edit meshes and UVs.
Getting Started
Prepare your Content Browser by creating folders for your project.
Open the Content Browser and right-click then select New Folder.
Name the Folder Meshes. You'll save the meshes you build in this folder.
Create another folder for the material you’ll create for your column.
You can even color coordinate your folders to keep the assets separate and in the right place.
Once you’ve created your folders, select Modeling Mode from the Mode dropdown menu. The Mode toolbar opens on the left -side of the viewport, along with the Modeling tab. This is where all the tools you need to create and shape your column are found.
In the Modeling tab, select the folder you created for your meshes in the New Asset Path field by clicking on the folder icon and selecting the folder name from the popup window. Click OK to save your selection.
All the meshes you create for this project will automatically save to this folder. Now you’re ready to begin building your column.
Creating the Basic Shapes
Columns are made from two basic shapes: cylinders and boxes. You’ll use two cylinders to create the pillar part of the column, and one box to create the base and the top of the column.
Begin by creating the cylinders.
Select Cylinder from the Create tools.
Set the Radius to 50 and the Height to 225.
Click Accept.
Leave all other settings at their default setting.
The first cylinder becomes the pillar of your column. Repeat the steps above to create a second cylinder, but make the following adjustments to the radius and height:
Select Cylinder from the Create tools.
Set the Radius to 15 and the Height to 175.
Click Accept.
Click image to enlarge.
You'll use the second cylinder to create a fluted pattern in the larger pillar.
Generating a Pattern
The Pattern tool gives you control over shaping the pattern and how the pattern appears using a selected mesh as the model for the pattern.
The Pattern tool repeats a selected mesh along a line, grid, or circle. You can save the pattern as a whole mesh, or as separate meshes. In this case, the pattern is saved as one mesh and is used to imprint its shape onto another mesh.
In the viewport, select the smaller cylinder so it is highlighted, then:
Select Pattern from the XForm tools.
Set the Shape to Circle.
Set the Radius of the circle pattern to 58.
Enable Convert to Dynamic. This treats all of the small columns of the pattern as one mesh.
Click to enlarge image.
Translate the pattern to the center of the large cylinder so that each small cylinder of the pattern surrounds the larger cylinder.
Click Accept.
The large cylinder should be surrounded by a series of smaller cylinders like in the gif above.
If the pattern appears incorrect, check the remaining settings for the tool are set to default by selecting the reset arrows.
Centering the Pattern
To ensure the pattern sits firmly in the center of the cylinder and equal distance from the floor and the top, use Align from the Transform tools. This tool moves one mesh across another selected mesh based on the axes you enable.
Select the large cylinder mesh and the pattern mesh, then:
Click the Align tool from Transform.
Select Bounding Boxes from the Align Type dropdown menu. This creates a bounding box around the two meshes.
Enable the following axes for alignment:
Align X
Align Y
Align Z
This aligns the pattern perfectly in the center of the pillar cylinder.
Click Accept.
The two meshes are now equally distributed across all selected axes. You’re ready to form the flutes in the pillar.
Forming the Column Flutes
To create the flutes in the column, you will need the PolyEdit tool, Boolean. This tool uses a Boolean operation, meaning it combines two or more solid shapes by checking if a point x lies inside each mesh.
Point x is where one mesh overlaps the other, this point is used to carve the mesh shape out of the selected mesh. In this case, you’re using a Boolean operation with the pattern made from the small cylinder to carve fluting into the larger cylinder.
To create the flutes:
Ensure both meshes are still selected.
Click the Boolean tool from Model.
Click Accept.
In the viewport the large cylinder must appear with a shadow of the pattern surrounding it like in the picture above.
If the cylinder doesn’t look like the image above, cycle through the Operation options until the cylinder is surrounded by the shadow pattern. Which mesh you select first will depend on which option you use:
Difference A - B: A is the first mesh selected and B is the second mesh selected. The Boolean operation uses the B mesh to subtract from the A mesh.
Difference B - A: A is the first mesh selected and B is the second mesh selected. The Boolean operation uses the A mesh to subtract from the B mesh.
Intersection: The intersection of where the two meshes touch is the only part of the meshes that remain.
Union: Merges the two meshes together.
For this tutorial you only need one of these options, Difference A - B or Difference B - A.
Once the flutes are created you can construct the base for your column.
Constructing the Base
The column base and top are constructed from a box shape. For this tutorial, you’ll make one box for the base mesh and edit the faces of the base mesh to create the column base and top. Begin by doing the following:
Select Box from the Create tools.
Set the Width and Depth to 120.
Set the Height to 20.
Translate the box under the pillar to see the height of the box combined with the height of the pillar.
Click Accept.
Click on the pillar mesh, then press Ctrl and left-click the box mesh to select both meshes.
Select Align from the Transform tools to automatically add the base mesh to the bounding box of the pillar mesh.
Deselect Align Z to move the box to the bottom center of the pillar.
Click Accept.
With the box shape constructed and centered, you’re ready to add elegant details to the base of your mesh.
Adding Detail
To edit the polygons of a mesh, use the PolyEdit tools. To create the base for this column you’ll target one face of the box at a time.
Use the PolyGroup Edit tool to make adjustments to a mesh via its face, edge, or vertex. You can adjust these options using the Selection Filter.
To add detail to the base of this column, you’re only going to be using three types of PolyGroup Edit Face Edits: Bevel, Inset, and Extrude.
Bevel
Add a bevel edge to the top of the box.
Select the box.
Click PolyGroup Edit from the Model tools.
Select the top face of the box to highlight the face.
Click Bevel in the Modeling tab. The top of the box now has a bevel edge.
Click Accept.
Inset
Add an inset angle to the beveled edges you just created. The Inset creates depth in the beveled edge with an angle.
Select the box.
Click PolyGroup Edit from the PolyEdit tools.
Select one of the beveled faces.
Click Inset from Modeling. A crosshair appears where your cursor is.
Place the crosshair in the center of the bevel. This is roughly five squares into the middle of the box.
As you add more detail to the box, more light blue lines are added to the wireframe of the box. The wireframe gives you an idea of where the UV islands are on the details you’re adding to the box.
Click the beveled face to place the inset angle.The beveled face now has an inset angle.
Click Accept.
Repeat these steps for each beveled edge of the box.
Extrude
Lift the top of the box to make it level with the flute on the bottom of the pillar. Extrude will pull the face of the mesh along an axis. For this column, you will extrude the top face of the box along the Z-axis.
Select the box.
Click PolyGroup Edit from the PolyEdit tools.
Select the top of the box, this highlights the top face of the box.
Click Extrude from Modeling. The top of the box follows the movement of your cursor along the different axes.
Slowly move your cursor along the Z-axis until the top of the box meets the bottom of the flute on the pillar.
Click in the viewport when the top of the box is at the level you want. This sets the height of the box.
Click Accept.
The base of the column can be as tall and as ornate as you want. You can use the suggested edits, or use your own design ideas.
The extrusion tool can scale to create angles as well.
Making the Column Top
When the base has the design you want, duplicate the base, then flip it 180 degrees to make the top of the column.
Select the box.
Click Duplicate from the XForm tools.
Rename the duplicate, Column Top.
Select Keep Inputs from the Handle Inputs dropdown menu.
Click Accept.
Translate the duplicate box along the Z-axis to the top of the column.
Select and rotate the box 180 degrees.
Click the pillar mesh, then press Ctrl and left-click the top box mesh to select both meshes.
Select Align from the Transform tools to automatically add the base mesh to the bounding box of the pillar mesh.
Ensure Align Z is deselected to cause the box to move to the top center of the pillar.
Click Accept.
Baking the Column Top
Next you will bake the mesh to save the 3D mesh information of the object’s rotation and scale (zeroing out), and apply it directly to that object’s geometry. The rotation values will change to 0 and the scale value to 1.
Select the box at the top.
Click Bake Transform from the Transform tools.
Enable Recenter Pivot. This realigns the pivot point of the top box with the new orientation of the box.
Click Accept.
The top box should now have the scale and rotation information baked into its texture file.
Editing the UVs
At this point, the UVs of the inset angles are not aligned correctly to the UVs of the top or side faces of the boxes. These need to be edited to align as closely as possible so the material looks natural. Otherwise, the material may stretch or squash unnaturally in places and repeat the pattern as well.
Looking closely at the box, you can see how the UV islands of the inset are slightly off from where they should be.
To fix the UV islands on the inset and align them properly:
Select the bottom box.
Click UV Unwrap from the UVs tools. The box is covered in a checker pattern.
Click Accept.
Repeat these steps for the top box as well.
The squares show you how the UVs align.
Creating the Column Material
Quickly create a marble texture for your column:
Search for a marble texture in your browser.
Save the marble texture image as a PNG or JPEG file.
Import the image file into your material folder.
Right-click in the Content Browser of your Material folder and select Material from the menu. A material thumbnail appears.
Give the material thumbnail a name.
Double-click the material thumbnail to open the Material Editor.
Create a Texture Sample material node and add the marble image to Texture in the Details panel.
Drag off the RGB pin and plug it into the Base Color input on the Main Material Node. The marble material covers the sphere in the preview window of the Material Editor.
Click Apply > Save.
Now you can add the material to the column to see how this material looks on the mesh.
Select the mesh in the viewport.
Drag the material into the Materials field of the Details panel. The material covers the mesh you selected.
If the material is stretched and not looking right, like in the photo, you can further edit the UVs using a combination of Attribute and UV tools. These will help you create PolyGroups and align the UVs on your meshes.
Painting PolyGroups
To fix the stretching you see in the image above, you can use the Attributes tools to edit polygroups. These tools are useful for organizing the mesh with visual grouping information.
Use Paint PolyGroups to paint the sides of the mesh. This way, you can quickly create UV islands in some of the UV tools.
Creating UV islands can stop UVs from stretching, but it you might still need to use UV Unwrap or AutoUV to edit UVs.
Select the mesh in the viewport.
Click Paint PolyGroups from the Attributes tools.
Start clicking on all the faces of the one side of the mesh. All parts of the one face should be the same color when you’re done.
Click Accept.
Repeat these steps for each side of the mesh, then repeat the steps for the top box as well.
Clean up the UV seams on the pillar do the following:
Select the pillar mesh.
Click Project UVs from the UVs tools.
Select Cylinder from the Projection type dropdown menu.
Select Checkerboard from the Material mode dropdown menu.
Click Accept
Once you’re finished creating the UV islands, you can automatically create UVs for each side using AutoUV from the UVs tools.
Select the bottom box mesh in the viewport.
Click AutoUV from the UVs tools.
Select Checkerboard from the Material Mode dropdown menu. A checkerboard pattern covers the mesh.
Enable Constrain to PolyGroups to use the UV islands created with Paint PolyGroup.
Click Accept.
The texture map should not have any distortion, it should have an even texture for each surface. Notice in the image below that the checker pattern is aligned and even with no distortion. For a consistent looking material you should aim to minimize distortion and visible seams.
Combining and Converting Meshes
You now have three separate meshes. Each section of the column can be selected separately. To create one static mesh from the separate meshes:
Select each part of the column.
Click Union from the Mesh tools.
Enable Trim Flaps and Try Fix Holes in the Model tab. These tools should stop your mesh from having gaps or quality issues that would make the material look peculiar.
Select Static Mesh from the Output Type dropdown menu. This converts your three meshes into one complete static mesh which can be used as a prop in your island.
Change Name to Column. This assigns a name to your mesh.
Click image to enlarge.
Click Accept.
Your column is now one complete static mesh, but the pivot point is in the wrong place.
Move the pivot by doing the following:
Select the column in the viewport.
Click Pivot from the XForm tools.
Translate the pivot point along the Z-axis to the bottom of the column.
Click Accept.
Now the column can be used just like any prop or building prop in the Fortnite folder.
Result
The column you constructed should work with other props and building assets in UEFN. Below is an image of the column used with the bank building assets.
The meshes you create can be as unique as you want them to be. Creating custom props makes your island feel extraordinary, and the meshes you create can be used and edited in UEFN the same way that you use Fortnite Creative props.