Static Meshes

A Static Mesh is a piece of geometry that consists of a fixed set of vertices and polygons that can be cached in video memory. This allows them to be rendered efficiently, meaning they can be much more complex than other types of geometry such as Brushes. Since they are cached in video memory, Static Meshes can be moved, rotated, scaled, lit, colored etc. but they cannot have their vertices animated in any way.

In Unreal: Entropy they're the basic geometry unit to create stunning levels, terrain, decorations, architecture, foliage and so on. They consist of previously build 3D models, that are imported into the UnrealED 2.2 and are then displayed as Static Mesh. You can either create a 3D model in an external 3D modeling tool (like Blender) or create structures with Brushes in UnrealED and convert them to Mesh Models, that are processed and displayed as Static Meshes afterwards. Static Meshes are imported via the Unreal Script import commands like any other Mesh, and then saved in either *.u-Packages (System Folder) or *.usx Packages (Static Mesh Folder).

The Static Mesh System is a fundamental part of the Unreal Tournament SDK Framework and how Unreal: Entropy achives to render complex and detailed levels.

The SDK comes with a bunch of Static Mesh variants, click on either to view a detailed page:


 * Standard Static Mesh Actors
 * LOD Static Meshes (Static Meshes w/ default LOD settings ON)
 * Architecture Meshes (Static Meshes w/ extreme minimum to no reprocessing)
 * InterpActors (Static Meshes optimized for movement, replacing the old "Mover" Classes)
 * Line Meshes (Static Meshes used to build pathways, pipes, roads etc, SDK's version of spline meshes)

Internally both the Game and the SDK make advantage of 6 concepts to efficently draw Static Meshes:


 * UsdkStaticMeshComponent (May 2021)
 * UsdkMeshVertexBuffer/UsdkStaticMeshVertexBuffer (May 2021)
 * FStaticMeshComponentInterface (May 2021)
 * VertexBuffer List in the new LevelInfo (May 2021)
 * Discrete LODs - Level of Detail support w/ loading different versions of the same mesh based on distance settings (September 2021)
 * Metamorph LODs - Level of Detail support w/ smoothly changing geometry detail. Inspired by Unreal Engine 1's old LOD Morph Algorithm and Unreal Engine 5's Nanite Virtual Geometry Feature, the Metamorph LOD smoothly decreases the Static Mesh's Vertices based on the pixel space the mesh uses on screen and distance to camera (September 2021)