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Next Steps |Workflow Refinements

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Next Steps |Workflow Refinements

Workflow Refinements

The last of these aspects worth investigating in the future are workflow refinements, which investigates ways to improve the efficiency and potential uses of the workflow that we have established in chapter 3.6. One way to do so is to consider Python interoperability between applications. Python is a programming language that is supported amongst many 3D applications within the media and entertainment industries.[1] UE4 is of course no exception, as such, it offers a Python API (Application Programming Interface) to help with scripting and automating within Unreal Editor.[2] (Fig. 5.4.1) This allows the scripting of various management systems to automate workflows to optimize production pipelines in the future. The Datasmith workflow toolkit that was mentioned in chapter 3.5 is one example of such use, where its goal is to make “moving data into unreal engine as frictionless as possible.”[3] (Fig. 5.4.2) Building upon this, it then becomes theoretically possible to automate the establishment of interactive objects and thresholds within UE4 depending on how the families are defined within Revit. (Fig. 5.4.3) This will be an important aspect to consider as the tool becomes more refined and better utilized for real world practical applications. In doing so, it becomes possible to further increase the efficiency of the potential visualization pipeline of this framework that this thesis has now established.

Python Editor Script Plugin within UE4

From “Scripting the Editor Using Python,” Unreal Engine Documentation, accessed October 18, 2019, https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Engine/Editor/ScriptingAndAutomation/Python/index.html.

Datasmith is a collection of tools and plugins that automates various tasks from traditional workflows

From Ken Pimentel, “Technology Sneak Peek: Python in Unreal Engine,” Unreal Engine, November 15, 2017, accessed November 20, 2019, https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/tech-blog/technology-sneak-peek-python-in-unreal-engine.

An example of a Python script used to automatically generate a LOD from a higher complexity mesh

From Pimentel, “Technology Sneak Peek: Python in Unreal Engine.”