Unreal I/O

Module: Core · Category: I/O · Tool ID: UnrealIO

The import half of Unreal I/O. Instead of dragging an FBX into the Content Browser and hoping, this runs a profile-driven pipeline: classify the file, resolve which profile applies, preflight it, import to a staging area, validate against rules, apply safe fixes, then publish to its destination with provenance recorded.

The point is that the same file imported by two people on two machines lands identically — and that a file which shouldn’t be imported gets stopped before it pollutes the project.

The export half is Unreal I/O — Export.

Unreal I/O with a normal-map texture selected, showing the resolved profile and destination plus a Preview dry run listing each preflight rule and the validators that will run after import.

When to use it

• Any repeatable import path from a DCC: Houdini, Maya, Blender, 3ds Max, ZBrush, Substance
• Bulk intake: a folder or a drag-dropped batch of meshes and textures
• Enforcing naming and material conventions at the point of entry rather than auditing later
• When you need provenance: what file, what settings, when, by whom
• Previewing what an import would do before it does it

What it isn’t for

• Don’t use it for one-off throwaway imports into a scratch folder — the pipeline’s value is consistency, and it costs a little setup.
• Don’t use it to repair already-imported assets. It governs the boundary. For assets already in the project, use the relevant repair tool (e.g. USD & Interchange Repair Kit).

Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for import or io (or browse to Core → I/O).
2. Click the tool card.

The panel is laid out as a numbered flow: 1. Source file → 2. Profile & destination → 3. Or import a whole folder, with staged multi-file intake and recent reports below.

The pipeline

Every import runs the same loop:

classify → resolve profile → preflight → staged import
         → validate → safe fixes → publish → provenance

Stage	What it does
Classify	Determines DCC source and asset type from the file
Resolve profile	Picks the governing profile (see below)
Preflight	Checks the file before importing — this is what can block
Staged import	Imports to a staging area, not straight to the destination
Validate	Runs the profile’s rules against the staged asset
Safe fixes	Applies fixes the profile marks as safe, recorded as Auto-Fixed
Publish	Moves the validated asset to its destination path
Provenance	Records source file and settings on the published asset

Staging is the important part: a file that fails validation never reaches your content folder.

1. Source file

Control	Notes
Import from	Path to an FBX/OBJ/glTF mesh or a texture
Browse…	File picker — supports multi-select, which stages files as a batch

2. Profile & destination

Control	Notes
Import profile	An explicit profile. If picked, it wins outright
Material profile	How materials are mapped
Naming profile	Naming convention applied on publish
Source app (DCC)	Generic / Unknown, Houdini, Maya, Blender, 3ds Max, ZBrush, Substance
Asset intent	The asset type — prop, modular, Nanite hero, texture role, character, animation
Publish to	Content path the validated asset lands in, overriding the profile default

How the profile is resolved

This is the one piece of behaviour worth understanding before you use the tool:

• An explicit Import profile wins outright. Everything below is ignored.
• Otherwise the tool composes the Source-app preset with the Asset-intent preset.
• Generic + Auto means pure detection — the classifier decides everything.

So if an import isn’t behaving as you expect, check whether an Import profile is selected and silently overriding your Source-app and Asset-intent choices.

Why Source app matters

DCC presets carry the conventions that cause the classic import bugs:

Property	Values
Source unit	Centimeter, Meter, Inch, Foot
Up axis	Z-up (Unreal, 3ds Max) · Y-up (Maya, Houdini)
Handedness	Left-handed (Unreal) · Right-handed (Houdini, Maya)

A Maya export imported as Generic is the reason a mesh arrives rotated 90° and 100× the wrong size. Setting the DCC is usually enough to fix both.

Asset types

Static Mesh — Prop · Static Mesh — Modular · Static Mesh — Nanite Hero · Texture — Base Color · Texture — Normal · Texture — ORM / Masks · Skeletal Mesh — Character · Animation Clip

Texture roles matter for correctness, not just naming: a normal map imported as Base Color gets the wrong colour space and compression.

Preview vs Import

Button	Effect
Preview	Dry run — shows type, profile, destination and rules without creating anything
Import	Runs the pipeline on the selected file

Preview is the habit worth forming. It reports the resolved type, the chosen profile, the destination, and — critically — whether the file would be BLOCKED at preflight, all without touching the project.

Preview (dry run) on a normal-map TGA: detected type, composed profile, the reimport action, the preflight lines with their check codes and the validators that will run after import.

3. Folder import

Control	Notes
Source folder	Folder of meshes and/or textures
Include subfolders	Recurse
Preview Folder	Dry-run every supported file: type, destination, and would-block
Import Folder	Run the import loop on every supported file, publishing to the destination above

Preview Folder before Import Folder, always. It is the difference between discovering that half a folder is blocked now versus after it has run.

Multi-file intake

Drag files from your file browser onto the panel, or multi-select in Browse. Staged files import together as a batch.

Button	Effect
Import selected	Import all staged files as a batch to the destination above
Clear	Empty the staged list

Results

Per-rule results, each with a status:

Status	Meaning
Passed	Rule satisfied
Failed	Rule violated
Skipped	Not applicable to this asset
Auto-Fixed	Violated, and the pipeline applied a safe fix

And a severity:

Severity	Meaning
Info	Recorded, no action needed
Warning	Worth attention; does not stop the import
Blocker	Stops the import
Exception Required	Blocked unless an explicit exception is granted

Exception Required is the deliberate escape hatch: rather than tempting people to disable a rule permanently, the pipeline demands a recorded exception for this specific case.

Results offer one-click navigation to the published assets.

Reports and provenance

Import runs write reports to Saved/EQLabsIO/Reports.

Control	Effect
Recent reports	List of recent runs
Refresh	Rescan the report folder
Open folder	Open the report folder in your file browser

Published assets carry provenance — the source file and settings that produced them — which is what makes a later re-import reproducible rather than a guess.

Tips and gotchas

• An explicit Import profile overrides Source app and Asset intent silently. First thing to check when a profile isn’t behaving.
• Preview costs nothing and answers the real question. “would this be blocked?” — before anything is created.
• Wrong scale or rotation is almost always a DCC preset problem, not an import bug. Set Source app before debugging further.
• Textures imported under the wrong role get the wrong colour space. Normal maps are the usual casualty.
• Blocked files are not partially imported. Staging means nothing reaches the destination — that is the design.
• Generic + Auto is pure detection. Good for exploration, less predictable for a production pipeline where an explicit profile is the point.

Related tools

• Unreal I/O — Export — the export half of the same pipeline
• USD & Interchange Repair Kit — repair assets already in the project
• Ship Lab — release-time readiness, where this is intake-time
• Project Health Dashboard — project-wide state after assets have landed