Release notes

Support for lit materials

3D Tiles layers now react to lighting in the scene, resolving an issue where they appeared too dark in daytime scenes or too light in nighttime scenes.

Performance

Performance of 3D Tiles layers has been enhanced through a new data loading pattern that minimizes the amount of data fetched for a given viewpoint and prioritizes requesting data closer to the camera. Additionally, the lighting changes noted above result in reduced processing time of meshes by eliminating the need to de-index them and recalculate lighting normals. This reduction in unnecessary data loading facilitates faster load times, lower memory usage, and smoother interaction, especially when working with large 3D Tiles layers. Users can expect improved rendering performance and a more responsive overall experience.

3D Tiles with external resources

Added support for 3D Tiles services with external resources; previously, only embedded resources were supported.

Support 3D Tiles content type from ArcGIS portals

This release enhances the behavior of 3D Tiles layers when added from an ArcGIS portal. By default, 3D Tiles layers are automatically treated as containing discrete 3D objects, typically used to represent individual features such as buildings. If the portal item metadata includes the type keyword IntegratedMesh then the layer is treated as a continuous mesh, such as those from a reality capture. This change provides more accurate visual integration with the scene, especially for occlusion and relative placement purposes. For 3D Tiles services that aren't hosted as portal items, the behavior remains unchanged. For more information about type keywords, see the Items and item types page.

This release brings significant performance improvements to scene layers through an optimized approach to loading Levels of Detail (LoD). This reduction in unnecessary data loading facilitates faster load times, lower memory usage, and smoother interaction, especially when working with large scene layers. Users can expect improved rendering performance and a more responsive overall experience.

The ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine now supports custom materials in additional layer types, including integrated mesh layers and 3D Tiles layers. This enhancement allows developers to colorize these layers using custom materials to better convey the meaning of the data and tailor their appearance to the intended audience.

This release introduces the ability to serialize OAuth credentials, allowing users to save their credentials for seamless access to protected resources across application sessions. With this feature, users can store and load existing credentials in JSON format without the need to re-authenticate each time.

This release introduces a Reload Map button to improve management of spatial reference (SR) changes in scenes. When developers add or modify basemaps or elevation layers that have a different SR than the current SR of the map, the map may need to be reloaded to reflect the changes. Previously, this could only be triggered by entering Play mode or manually reloading the map, causing the map to appear out of sync. Now, the UI and components display the current SR with a one-click reload button that applies changes immediately. This enhancement simplifies map configuration and improves overall usability.

ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine now supports Android devices and emulators that are configured to use a memory page size of 16 KB.

• The ArcGISAuthenticationChallengeType enum has been introduced to categorize authentication challenges.
• type property has been added to the ArcGISAuthenticationChallenge class, indicating which type of ArcGISCredential should be created to handle it.
• New styles have been added to the ArcGISBasemapStyle enum representing various options for the new Open Basemap published by Esri:
  • OpenBlueprint
  • OpenDarkGray
  • OpenDarkGrayBase
  • OpenDarkGrayLabels
  • OpenHybrid
  • OpenHybridDetail
  • OpenLightGray
  • OpenLightGrayBase
  • OpenLightGrayLabels
  • OpenNavigation
  • OpenNavigationDark
  • OpenOSMStyle
  • OpenOSMStyleRelief
  • OpenOSMStyleReliefBase
  • OpenStreets
  • OpenStreetsNight
  • OpenStreetsRelief
  • OpenStreetsReliefBase
• materialReference property has been added to the ArcGISOGC3DTilesLayer and ArcGISIntegratedMeshLayer classes to support custom materials in those layers.
• ArcGISJSONSerializable<T> interface has been implemented to support serialization and deserialization of ArcGIS JSON objects in the following classes:
  • ArcGISArcGISBuildingAttributeFilter
  • ArcGISCredential
  • ArcGISGeometry
  • ArcGISOAuthUserConfiguration
  • ArcGISSpatialReference
• The following properties have been added to the ArcGISSpatialReference class:
  • resolution: Defines the minimum distance between stored x,y coordinate values, determining horizontal precision.
  • tolerance: Specifies the minimum x,y distance used to determine if two coordinates are considered equal in spatial operations.
  • verticalResolution: Defines the minimum distance between stored z-values, determining vertical precision.
  • verticalTolerance: Specifies the minimum z-value difference used to determine equality in vertical spatial operations.

• A new node From JSON has been added under ArcGIS Building Attribute Filter, ArcGIS Geometry, and ArcGIS Spatial Reference to support serialization and deserialization of ArcGIS JSON objects.

• A reload map button has been added to the ArcGISMap component next to the Map Type drop-down. Developers can reload the map when changes are made to the map configuration that impact the spatial reference, such as basemap or elevation layer changes.

• A reload map button has been added to the Map tab next to the Create Map button in the Modes Panel UI. Developers can reload the map when changes are made to the map configuration that impact the spatial reference, such as basemap or elevation layer changes.

OpenStreetMap (OSM) basemaps are in mature support and will no longer be updated. They will be removed in a future version of ArcGIS Maps SDK for Unreal Engine. For more information, see the Overture Maps Data in ArcGIS blog. The following styles are deprecated in the ArcGISBasemapStyle enum; we recommend replacing your OSM BasemapStyle with the equivalent Open Basemap styles, as follows:

• iOS/iPadOS 16 is no longer supported. A minimum of iOS/iPadOS 17 is now required.
• Android 8 (API level 26) is no longer supported. A minimum of Android 9 (API level 28) is now required.
• macOS Ventura (version 13) is no longer supported. A minimum of macOS Sonoma (version 14) is now required.

• BUG-000177451: 3D Tiles appear unlit and are not affected by light.

• BUG-000176171: API keys do not work in the Authentication tab.
• BUG-000176584: API key does not save when added to a project from the Auth tab.

• BUG-000175650: The Unreal Engine editor crashes if the values of the Map Extent (clipping area) are outside the bounds of the current Map Spatial Reference.
• BUG-000169958: Services cannot be loaded using the portal item URL if there are non-ASCII characters the service URL.

• BUG-000169959: On Zoom to Layer/Elevation, the editor camera is misaligned with the horizon.

  Summary: After you click "Zoom to Layer" or "Zoom to Elevation" and then start and stop Play mode, the editor camera orientation is misaligned with the horizon.

  Workaround: Reset the editor camera in the Pawn actor.

• Question on Esri Community: Collider offsets in rendered OSM 3D buildings.

  Summary: The collision mesh is not properly aligned with the corresponding rendered OSM 3D building, which can result in inaccurate collision detection or unexpected behavior when interacting with the 3D environment.

  Workaround: No workaround available.

• BUG-000164676: Exceptions are not handled correctly in Blueprints.

  Summary: Open the Blueprint sample scene, open the level blueprint, go to the "If the Map Type is Local" node, change the map type enum selector to Local, save and press Play, Unreal crashes.

  Workaround: Use the UI or C++.

• BUG-000179149: UnlitSceneNode material is not included in packaged builds.

  Summary: The UnlitSceneNode material is not included in packaged builds, causing unlit 3D Tiles Layers to render without a valid material.

  Workaround: No workaround available.