MaterialPilot UE

MaterialPilot UE is an Unreal Engine 5 editor plugin that turns selected texture sets into reusable Unreal materials.

Developed by Nima Ghozatimoslehabadi.

The first vertical slice focuses on the core workflow from the roadmap:

Select mesh/component -> select textures -> analyze -> dry run -> build material instance -> assign

What It Does

• Opens as a native dockable editor tab from Tools > MaterialPilot UE.
• Captures the selected mesh component, Static Mesh asset, or Skeletal Mesh asset as the material target.
• Captures selected Texture2D assets from the Content Browser.
• Groups the texture set by common stem.
• Classifies common PBR maps:
  • Base Color / Albedo / Diffuse
  • Normal
  • Roughness
  • Metallic / Metalness
  • Ambient Occlusion
  • Opacity / Mask
  • Emissive
  • Specular
  • Gloss / Smoothness
  • Height / Displacement / Bump / Depth as optional inputs
• Uses weighted semantic scoring plus texture data hints, so strong role words like metalness, roughness, and normal beat weak shared words like base.
• Resolves duplicates automatically instead of blocking the build. For example, if both DirectX/default and OpenGL normal variants are selected, MaterialPilot prefers the Unreal-friendly DirectX/default normal and ignores the OpenGL variant.
• Builds the best material it can with the maps available. Missing optional maps use Unreal/material defaults, and unknown extra textures are ignored rather than treated as fatal errors.
• Detects packed channel maps:
  • ORM / ARM: R=AO, G=Roughness, B=Metallic
  • RMA: R=Roughness, G=Metallic, B=AO
  • MRA: R=Metallic, G=Roughness, B=AO
• Reports confidence and reasons for every classification.
• Generates or reuses a parent material by recipe signature.
• Creates or reuses a Material Instance Constant for the texture set.
• Sets texture parameters on the material instance.
• Optionally fixes texture settings for sRGB, compression, masks, and normal maps.
• Assigns the generated material instance to the captured target slot.
• Supports dry run reports before changing assets.

Compatibility

MaterialPilot is delivered as a source C++ editor plugin. The .uplugin intentionally does not pin EngineVersion, so Unreal can rebuild it for UE 5.x projects and future UE5 versions when the editor APIs remain compatible. Version 1.1.0 has been verified to compile in Unreal Engine 5.8.

The plugin uses editor-side systems that are stable across UE5:

• ToolMenus and dockable tabs
• Content Browser selection
• AssetTools asset creation
• Material Instance Constants
• Material Editing Library
• Editor transactions
• Developer Settings

Installation

1. Copy the MaterialPilot folder into your Unreal project:

   YourProject/Plugins/MaterialPilot
   

2. Open the project in Unreal Engine 5.

3. When Unreal asks to rebuild modules, choose Yes.

4. Enable MaterialPilot UE from Edit > Plugins if needed.

5. Restart the editor if Unreal asks.

Basic Use

1. Select a mesh component in the level, or select a Static Mesh / Skeletal Mesh asset.
2. Open Tools > MaterialPilot UE.
3. Click Capture Selected Target.
4. Select the texture assets in the Content Browser.
5. Click Capture Selected Textures.
6. Click Analyze to inspect the detected map roles.
7. Click Dry Run to preview generated assets and assignment.
8. Click Build & Assign when the report looks correct.

Generated assets are created in:

/Game/AutoMaterial/GeneratedParents
/Game/AutoMaterial/Instances

You can change those folders in Project Settings > Plugins > MaterialPilot UE.

Current MVP Scope

This version implements the first strong production slice from the roadmap. It is not yet the complete future product.

Included:

• Single captured target slot
• Selected texture-set workflow
• Explainable weighted classifier with texture-data hints
• Automatic duplicate and variant resolution
• Non-blocking unknown/optional texture handling
• Packed ORM/RMA/MRA support
• Texture setting cleanup
• Generated parent material cache
• Material instance creation/reuse
• Assignment with editor transaction support
• Dry-run report

Planned next:

• Multi-slot mapper
• Batch folder mode
• Custom profile/rule editor
• Existing studio master-material mapping
• UDIM and virtual texture awareness
• Advanced height/displacement recipes
• Automated Unreal test suite

Notes

• The tool does not use cloud AI.
• It does not overwrite existing user materials.
• It marks changed assets dirty so you can review and save them normally in Unreal.
• Unknown textures do not block the build; they are reported and ignored.

License

This project is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.