How to Import and Update Datasmith Content in Unreal Engine

What you'll learn in this guide

Datasmith is used to bring content from supported 3D design applications or file formats into Unreal Engine. This guide covers adding Datasmith content to a project, updating it by reimporting changes made to the source file, and applying those updates to actors in the current Level. It also explains how to update individual Static Mesh, Material, and Texture assets instead of refreshing the entire scene.

In this workflow, the relationship between the Datasmith Scene asset created from the source file and the Datasmith Scene Actor in the Level is important. Reimporting can update project assets; whether actors in the scene receive those changes depends on the synchronization settings selected during reimport. Treating these as separate considerations helps you control the scope of an update.

Requirements

Before you begin, open the project you plan to use in Unreal Editor and check that the Datasmith Importer plugin is enabled. Datasmith import options won't appear if the plugin is disabled. Some Datasmith plugins may be enabled by default if the project was created with the Architecture or Automotive, Product Design, and Manufacturing templates. Still, verify that the required option is available.

Depending on the source file format, additional plugins or software may be required. One example in the Epic Games documentation is .wire files: these require a compatible version of Autodesk Alias AutoStudio to be installed. Requirements for other formats and applications can also vary by source type. The source guides don't specify a particular Unreal Engine version or account requirement, so no version or account requirements are added here.

If you're adding content to an existing Level, open that Level first. For a separate scene, you can create a new Level or use the default Level.

Import Datasmith content

1. Open the target project in Unreal Editor. Open the existing Level where you want the content to go; if there isn't one, create a new Level or use the default Level.

2. Open the Create menu on the main toolbar and choose Datasmith > File Import. In the file dialog, select the source file and click Open.

3. Choose where to store the content in the project and click OK. To create a new parent folder, right-click an empty area in the file dialog. To create a subfolder inside an existing folder, right-click that folder.

4. In the Datasmith Import Options window, choose which types of content to import from the source file and review the other import settings. Since the options vary by file format, don't assume every source will have the same settings.

5. When you've finished configuring the settings, click Import. Datasmith processes the source file, creates new assets in the project, and places the Datasmith Scene in the open Level.

If you need to customize the import process, you can use Blueprints visual scripting or Python scripts. Dataprep also lets you apply additional operations during import; recipes can be saved and reused. These are options for customizing the process, not required steps for a basic file import.

Update the scene when the source file changes

If you've saved changes to the source scene in the same disk file used previously, right-click the Datasmith Scene asset in the Content Browser and choose Reimport. If the changes are in a different file, choose Reimport With New File and point to the new file.

Reimport offers options similar to those used for the initial import. In addition, the Sync Current Level Actors section determines whether changes to the updated Datasmith Scene asset are applied to the corresponding Datasmith Scene Actor instances in the open Level. Adjust the options, then click Import.

Reimporting can change Static Mesh geometry, Parent Materials, and Texture assets in the Content Browser. So don't treat it as merely refreshing the scene view; project assets can also be affected. Before proceeding, review the scope of the source changes and your synchronization preferences.

To synchronize actors during reimport, open the relevant Level, reimport the Datasmith Scene asset, and check the Datasmith Scene Actors box in the Sync Current Level Actors section of the Import Options window. Enable Re-Spawn Deleted Actors if you also need previously deleted actors to be added back to the Level.

You can synchronize later, too. Open the relevant Level and select the Datasmith Scene Actor in the Outliner. In the Datasmith section of the Details panel, click Update actors from Scene. If you want to restore deleted actors, check Respawn deleted actors before proceeding.

Update individual assets

You can update individual assets instead of reimporting the entire Datasmith Scene asset. In the Content Browser, right-click the relevant Static Mesh, Material, or Texture asset and choose Reimport. For Material assets, the Datasmith > Reimport Material option appears for assets that Datasmith created from scratch based on the material definition in the source file. According to the source guide, this typically applies to Parent Materials imported from 3ds Max; the option may not be available for Material instances based on Datasmith's built-in materials.

When you reimport an individual asset, a window opens for its settings, but this process doesn't offer an option to synchronize Level actors. However, asset references in the project automatically use the updated version. This means that although reimporting an individual asset doesn't offer an actor synchronization option, no additional synchronization step is needed to update asset references.

Common mistakes and next steps

• If Datasmith options aren't visible, first check whether the Datasmith Importer plugin is enabled in the project.

• If you're updating from a different source file, choose Reimport With New File instead of Reimport.

• Don't treat reimporting and synchronizing Level actors as the same setting; review the Sync Current Level Actors option.

• Keep in mind that reimporting an individual asset doesn't offer an option to synchronize Level actors, while asset references automatically use the updated version.

• Remember that reimporting can affect Static Mesh geometry, Parent Materials, and Texture assets.

In architecture, interior design, and archviz workflows, Datasmith can be used to bring content from a supported design source into an Unreal Engine project and carry changes from the source scene into the project. It's important to decide whether changes should apply to the entire scene or only to specific assets. Teams can agree on when scene actors should be synchronized and whether deleted actors should be restored.

The source documentation doesn't provide information about hardware requirements or license fees, so don't make assumptions on these topics. Before proceeding, check that the source file format is supported, any required additional software is installed, and the project plugins are enabled. As a next step, you can review the Datasmith Import Options documentation for your file type and consider using Blueprints, Python, or Dataprep customization for recurring tasks.

Source and license

This guide is adapted into Turkish from Epic Games' “Importing Datasmith Content into Unreal Engine” and “Reimporting Datasmith Content into Unreal Engine” guides. Both sources are listed as license=free.