Physics & Collision Studio

Physics & Collision Studio

Module: Modeling · Category: Physics · Tool ID: PhysicsCollisionStudio

A two-tab panel for everything collision and physics. The Collision tab audits static-mesh collision setups (missing collision, complex-as-simple, convex body counts) and lets you batch-apply simple collision in one transaction. The Physics tab walks every PhysicsAsset and SkeletalMesh, flagging missing physics assignments, suspicious body/constraint counts, and orphaned assets.

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When to use it

• Before a packaged build — confirm every collision-relevant mesh has some collision setup
• Optimization pass — find meshes using complex-as-simple (a known performance trap)
• Onboarding to a project — see at a glance which skeletal meshes are missing physics assets
• Pre-cinematic / pre-physics-sim — sanity-check ragdoll PhysicsAssets against body/constraint budgets

When not to use it

• Don’t use this to author collision — UE’s Static Mesh editor still owns the actual hull authoring; this tool batch-applies and audits
• Don’t use this for runtime physics tuning — that’s the PhysicsAsset editor’s job

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Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Physics (or browse to Modeling → Physics)
2. Click the tool card
3. Use the tab bar at the top to switch between Collision and Physics

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Tab 1 — Collision Preset Manager

Audits static mesh collision and lets you batch-fix the most common problem: meshes with no simple collision at all.

Interface

Section	What it does
Scan Path	Folder to scan recursively. Default /Game.
Search box	Filter the list by mesh name.
Problems Only checkbox	Hide rows that have no collision issues.
Scan button	Walks every Static Mesh under the path and inspects collision setup.
Batch Apply Simple	Adds simple box collision to every selected entry that’s missing one. Single undoable transaction.
Copy	Plain-text dump of visible (filtered) entries.
Results list	Per-mesh row with severity, issue description, and a per-row Add Collision action.

Severity coding

Severity	Meaning
Good (green)	Has simple collision, no obvious issues
Warning (yellow)	Has collision but with caveats — e.g., very high convex body count
Critical (red)	No simple collision, or relies on complex-as-simple

Workflow

1. Pick a scan path, click Scan
2. Toggle Problems Only to focus on critical/warning rows
3. Either: Ctrl+Click rows + Batch Apply Simple, or use per-row Add Collision for one-off fixes
4. Save All to persist the new collision data to disk

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Tab 2 — Physics Asset Debugger

Surfaces PhysicsAsset health and finds skeletal meshes that don’t have a physics asset assigned.

Interface

Section	What it does
Scan Path	Folder to scan recursively.
Scan button	Walks every PhysicsAsset and SkeletalMesh under the path.
Copy	Plain-text dump.
Physics Assets list	Per-PhysicsAsset row: body count, constraint count, severity (OK / Warning / Error), issue description.
Skeletal Meshes list	Per-SkeletalMesh row: has-physics-asset flag, name of the assigned asset (if any).

Severity coding

Severity	Meaning
OK	Body/constraint counts in expected ranges, no orphans
Warning	Suspicious counts (very high or zero), broken references
Error	Missing references, malformed asset

Workflow

1. Pick a scan path, click Scan
2. Walk the Physics Assets list — anything yellow or red gets a manual review in the PhysicsAsset editor
3. Walk the Skeletal Meshes list — meshes without a physics asset typically need one assigned (or explicit confirmation that they shouldn’t have one)

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Settings reference

Collision tab

Field	What it does	Default
Scan Path	Folder to scan	/Game
Name Filter	Substring filter	empty
Problems Only	Hide healthy rows	false

Physics tab

Field	What it does	Default
Scan Path	Folder to scan	/Game

Settings are persisted to [Project]/Saved/EQLabs/Settings/PhysicsCollisionStudio.json.

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Output

• In-place edits — Batch Apply Simple and per-row Add Collision modify Static Mesh assets directly. Mark dirty until Save All.
• Undo — every collision-add is wrapped in ScopedTransaction. Ctrl+Z reverts.
• Clipboard — the Copy button on each tab writes the visible list as plain text.
• No physics-asset edits — the Physics tab is read-only; fixes happen in the dedicated PhysicsAsset editor.

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Tips & gotchas

• Complex-as-simple is a perf trap — meshes flagged for using complex collision as simple may look fine in editor but stutter under physics queries at runtime. Replace with simple primitives or a convex hull.
• Batch Apply Simple adds a box, not a hull — it’s a fast guard against “no collision at all,” not a substitute for hand-authored hulls. Use it as triage; refine in the Static Mesh editor.
• High convex body counts hurt — anything over ~16 convex bodies on a single mesh starts paying real cost. The Collision tab surfaces these as Warnings.
• A skeletal mesh without a physics asset is sometimes intentional — non-physics characters (UI puppets, cinematic stand-ins) don’t need one. Don’t blanket-fix.
• Save All afterward — collision changes are in-memory until you save.

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Related tools

• Mesh Intelligence Dashboard — broader static-mesh stats, batching, pivot
• LOD & Nanite Studio — LODs and Nanite are interconnected with collision (e.g., Nanite meshes still need traditional collision)

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