Release notes

Version 0.3.0 - September, 2021.

The ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine introduces the ability to access ArcGIS data sources within a scene in Unreal Engine to develop 3D and XR applications for a wide variety of devices and experiences.

We are now happy to announce ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine Pre-release for Unreal Engine 4. This page provides details about the enhancements, resolved issues, and known issues.

Issues resolved

• Add layers from a local file UI issue

  Issue summary: When a local file is added by using the Details Panel UI, a relative file path is used and fails to load SLPK files.

• Integrated mesh scene layer lighting issue

  Issue summary: For some integrated mesh scene layers, the brightness of the surface doesn't match with the lighting direction.

• Scene layer texture not rendered correctly

  Issue summary: For some scene layers, the textures are not correctly placed on the surface.

Enhancements

This section describes new features and improvements (what's new).

Native geospatial placement

Native geospatial placement is required to support accurate geospatial placement of objects and intuitive camera control within a scene. With this release, ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine delivers initial support for native geospatial placement built on the Georeferencing plugin for Unreal Engine 4.27. This means that global scenes now use a rebasing system and an ellipsoid model instead of a spherical model, which allows you to render large scale worlds and place GIS data more accurately. It also introduces changes to the relationship between the camera and the scene. Now the camera moves inside the scene instead of the scene and its contents moving towards the camera.

3D object scene layer attributes

The ability to work with 3D attributes is a feature that works with ArcGIS 3D Model Layers to allow you to visualize the objects in a layer in a more meaningful way. 3D Object scene layers have attributes with values for each node. Depending on how the layer was authored, the cached attributes can have a slew of different information. For the 3D object scene layer technical information, see specifications in Esri GitHub.

Integrated mesh and 3D object scene layer v1.8 support

A new version of the Indexed 3D Scene Layer (I3S) specification for scene layers has been released. I3S specification version 1.8 is now supported by ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine and that includes Basis Universal Texture format in Khronos KTX2 standard. For more information about version 1.8, 3D Objects and Integrated Mesh profiles, visit Esri GitHub.

Note: gltf material and material transparency support are not added in this release yet.

C++ API

• ArcGISVisualLayer was removed so now all layers inherit directly from ArcGISLayer

• ArcGISGlobalCoordinatePosition was renamed to ArcGISPosition

• SpatialReference was added. Layers, Elevation, and Position have a SpatialReference

• Methods were added to ArcGIS3DModelLayer to support 3D attributes, SetMaterialReference, SetAttributesToVisualize.

• In addition to these methods, new classes, VisualizationAttributeDescription, AttributeProcessor, AttributeProcessorEvent, and VisualizationAttributeType were also added to support 3D Attributes

Detail Panel UI

• Layer type selector has been added for each layer type
• Layer URL and path is now editable after adding
• Origin location section that syncs with ArcGISMapView actor

Known issues

• Packaging issue when there is no C++ class

  Summary: Generic packaging error when the project doesn’t contain any C++ classes

  Workaround: Create at least one empty C++ class in the project’s source code folder. You can ensure your project has an empty C++ class by creating a new project as a C++ project in Unreal Engine's project creation wizard. View the Adding the Plugin to a New Project page for more information.

• macOS packaging paths issue

  Summary: Our libraries are not correctly loaded by macOS binary packages because of a missing search path.

  Workaround: Modify the packaged app binary to include the search path to the folder where our shared libraries are stored by following these steps.

  1. Package your macOS build

  2. Open a terminal and cd to the location of the package

  3. Run this command:

     Use dark colors for code blocksCopy

     1
     install_name_tool -add_rpath @loader_path/../UE4/<package-name>/Plugins/ArcGISMapsSDK/Binaries/ThirdParty/ArcGISMapsSDKLib/Mac <package-name>.app/Contents/MacOS/<package-name>

• Layer loading, position and LOD tile issue

  Summary: Although a service may use a supported layer type and spatial reference, some layers may either not render, render in an incorrect position, or incorrect LOD tiles are loaded instead

  Workaround: Case by case. If you encounter this issue, please raise a question on Esri's Early Adopter website.

• Warning message in output log

  Summary: When you get the error message by using the view state report, propagated error messages are logged in the Output Log although it's not an error.

  Workaround: This issue does not impact the usage of the plugin.

• Performance issue when near poles

  Summary: In the global viewing mode, when you navigate to the north/south pole, performance degrades significantly.

  Workaround: No workaround available.

• macOS raster tiled layer order issue

  Summary: When there are multiple raster tiled layers in the level, some layer or layer parts are not rendered although the layer is correctly added and visible when you check the single layer.

  Workaround: No workaround available.

• Scene layers cannot be invisible

  Summary: 3D object scene layers and integrated scene layers cannot be invisible even when their visibility is set to false.

  Workaround: No workaround available.

• Scene layers will be loaded only when the layer ID is 0

  Summary: When a scene service has multiple layers within it, only the layer with an ID of 0 will be displayed. Scene layers with a URL that doesn't have a layer ID or that ends with /0 will be displayed.

  Workaround: Publish each scene layer separately and obtain the URL individually

• Adding an ArcGIS Map View Actor into a level causes Unreal Engine to crash

  Summary: Unreal Engine crashes when you add an ArcGIS Map View Actor into the level

  Workaround: Click the ArcGIS Map button in the Unreal Engine UI toolbar to add a Details Panel UI, and delete ArcGISMap and ArcGISCamera from the World Outliner.