Unreal Guide

Simple Export ships with an FBX preset for Unreal. Select the correct preset in Properties -> Output -> Simple Export -> Preset. The preset ensures that the following settings are configured correctly.

Export to Unreal

Exporting static assets to Unity is straightforward and only requires 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Select the UE-Default Preset

Make sure the UE-default preset is selected

Step 2: Create an Export Collection

Create an export collection - that will now automatically apply the settings for Unity. This can be done by using the plus button in the Export List, right-clicking on the collection in the Outliner or right-clicking on the parent object in the 3D Viewport

Step 3: Move the Collection to the Origin

Select Move by Collection Center in the Pre Export Defaults to move the collection to the origin based on the collection offset. This is important for Unity, as it expects the pivot point of the mesh to be at the origin.

Step 4: Export the Collection

Export the collection from the Export List, the Outliner or by exporting all selected collections.

Import to Unreal

When importing the FBX file into Unreal Engine, make sure to adjust the import settings as follows:

The Simple Unreal Export Preset

General Settings

Setting	Value	Notes
Path Mode	`Strip Path`	Keeps only the name of references and discards the path.
Scale	`1.0`	Global Scale
object_types	`'MESH', 'OTHER', EMPTY', 'ARMATURE'`	Mesh should be obvious, Other enables object types like curves and metaballs to generate high poly geometry and empties are enabled as they may also contain object information when using systems like the collection instancing.
Custom Properties	`True`	Custom Properties can make the files slightly bigger but can be useful for passing on additional data in your pipeline.

Transformation Settings

Setting	Value	Notes
Apply Scaling	`FBX Unit Scale`	Apply custom scaling to each object transformation, and units scaling to FBX scale. Offers the most consistent and reliable scaling.
Forward Axis	`X Forward`	X Forward corralates with Unreals coordinate system.
Up Axis	`Z Up`	Unreal uses Z-up for the Upward vector.
Apply Unit	✅ `Enabled`	Ensures proper world orientation
Use Space Transform	❌ `Disabled`	Use Space Transform, Apply global space transform to the object rotations. When disabled only the axis space is written to the file and all object transforms are left as-is. Use Space transform can make the export easier but has certain technical limitation especially when working with animated meshes and deep hiererchies. It is therefore disabled.
Apply Transform	❌ `Disabled`	Apply Transform, Bake space transform into object data, avoids getting unwanted rotations to objects when target space is not aligned with Blender’s space (WARNING! experimental option, use at own risk, known to be broken with armatures/animations)

Shading Settings

Setting	Value	Notes
Smoothing	`Normals Only`	Smoothing, Export smoothing information (prefer ‘Normals Only’ option if your target importer understand split normals) which Unity does.
Apply Modifiers	✅ `Enabled`	Apply objects modifiers on export
Tangent Space	❌ `Disabled`	Unity uses by default the Mikktspace, the same Tangent space used by Blender. It is therefore not necessary to export the tangent space
Triangulate Faces	❌ `Disabled`	While it is generally recommended to triangulate meshes before export, doing it in the exporter does not maintain custom normals and can therefore cause completely broken and unpredictable results.