Using Fab Plugin
Introduction
Fab.com is a tool-agnostic marketplace for digital assets created by Epic Games. It allows creators to sell 3D models, textures, and other digital assets to a wide audience.
Download an asset from Fab and export it to your favorite software. The Fab plugin for Babylon.js Editor allows you to import these assets directly into your project.
Download an asset from Fab and export it to your favorite software. The Fab plugin for Babylon.js Editor allows you to import these assets directly into your project.
Prerequisite
In order to use Fab and download/export assets, you need an active Epic Games account and the Epic Games Launcher installed on your computer.
Installing the plugin
The Babylon.js Editor Fab plugin is available as a npm package. To install a plugin, simply open the Project Settings in the Babylon.js Editor, go to the Plugins tab, click the Add button and select From npm.
Then enter the name of the plugin to add. The name of the Fab plugin is babylonjs-editor-fab-plugin.
Once installed, a new tab named Fab will be available in the Editor's layout. This tab will show all the assets that were exported using Fab and can be imported into the current project.
Importing
For now, suported asset types are:
- For 3D models: GLTF, GLB, OBJ and FBX.
- For materials: Texture Set
To import assets from Fab, download any asset from the Fab section in the Epic Games Launcher by selecting the right file format before and select the Export target to be Custom (socket port). Once done, simply click the Export button.
Note: in case of a collection of multiple assets, Fab will ask you if you want to export all assets. All assets will be imported in the project's root folder assets/fab and any unused assets can be deleted later.
Once exported, the Editor will perform all necessary conversions and optimizations for assets such as the merge of textures for metallic-roughness materials (ORM) etc. According to the size of the asset(s), this process can take a few seconds to a couple of minutes.
Instantiating
To instantiate an imported Fab asset into the scene, simply select it from the Fab tab and drag'n'drop it into the preview panel like any other asset.
Because Fab assets are described by a collection of meshes and materials, the plugin will automatically assign pre-configured materials to the meshes when instantiating them.
Because Fab assets are described by a collection of meshes and materials, the plugin will automatically assign pre-configured materials to the meshes when instantiating them.
For a manual import, you can simply navigate to the assets/fab folder in the Assets browser panel and drag'n'drop the desired asset into the preview or the graph panels. Doing that allows you to use available assets such as materials separately.