Smart Asset Finder

Getting Started

Learn how to use Smart Asset Finder in 5 minutes.

Build Your Index

Before searching, you need to index your project assets.

First-Time Index Build

  1. Click the Index Assets button (top toolbar)

  2. The plugin will:

    • Scan all assets in /Game directory
    • Generate 224×224 thumbnails
    • Extract AI feature vectors
    • Save the index to disk

  3. Watch the progress in the status bar:

    • Progress percentage
    • ETA (estimated time remaining)
    • Asset counts (recognized/pending/failed)

Progress Bar

Note on indexing time: Indexing speed depends primarily on thumbnail generation, which requires Unreal Engine to load each asset into memory and render a 224x224 preview. This is the most time-consuming step — especially for meshes, materials, and particle systems. For small projects (~1,000 assets), expect a few minutes. For large projects (10,000+ assets), initial indexing may take 30-60+ minutes. This is a one-time cost; subsequent searches use the cached index.

Enable auto-update to keep your index synchronized:

  1. Click the Auto-Update button (turns green when enabled)
  2. The plugin will automatically:
    • Monitor for new/modified/deleted assets
    • Update the index incrementally in the background
    • Pause during Play-In-Editor (PIE) to avoid performance impact

Status indicators:

  • 🟢 Green: Auto-update enabled and idle
  • 🟡 Yellow: Processing queued assets
  • ⚫ Gray: Auto-update disabled

Search for Assets

  1. Type your search query in the search box
  2. Press Enter or click Search
  3. Results appear sorted by similarity score

Search English

Example queries:

red sword
fire spell effect
stone texture
dark fantasy armor
cartoon character

Search Results

Each result shows:

  • Thumbnail: Visual preview
  • Asset name: Filename
  • Similarity score: How well it matches (0-100%)
  • Asset type: Texture, Material, Mesh, etc.

Similarity Badge

Interacting with Results

  • Double-click: Open asset in editor
  • Right-click: Context menu with options:
    • Open Asset: Open in appropriate editor
    • Find in Content Browser: Locate in Content Browser
    • Copy Asset Path: Copy full path to clipboard
    • Copy Reference: Copy asset reference for Blueprint/C++

Context Menu

  • Drag-and-drop: Drag asset to scene or other panels

Filter Results

Use the left sidebar to filter by asset type:

Filters Sidebar

Asset Type Filters

  • Textures: Texture2D assets
  • Materials: Material and MaterialInstance assets
  • Static Meshes: StaticMesh assets
  • Skeletal Meshes: SkeletalMesh assets (v2.0+)
  • Particle Systems: ParticleSystem and Niagara effects
  • Sprites: PaperSprite assets

Filter Controls

  • Click a filter button to toggle it on/off
  • Select All: Enable all filters (show everything)
  • Clear All: Disable all filters (show nothing)
  • Filters show asset counts: Materials (42)

View Modes

Tile View (Default)

  • Large thumbnails in a grid
  • Best for visual browsing
  • Adjustable thumbnail size (slider in toolbar)

Search in multiple languages:

Chinese Search

Examples

Chinese:

红色武器        (red weapons)
火焰特效        (fire effects)
石头材质        (stone materials)

Japanese:

赤い剣          (red swords)
炎のエフェクト   (fire effects)
石のテクスチャ   (stone textures)

Korean:

빨간 무기       (red weapons)
불 효과         (fire effects)
돌 재질         (stone materials)

French:

épée rouge      (red sword)
effet de feu    (fire effect)
texture pierre  (stone texture)

No configuration needed—just type in your language!

Pro Tips

1. Use Descriptive Queries

Good queries:

  • “weathered stone wall”
  • “glowing blue magic crystal”
  • “rusty medieval armor plate”

Less effective:

  • “texture”
  • “asset”
  • “thing”

2. Try Different Phrasings

If results aren’t what you expected, rephrase:

  • “fire effect” vs “flame spell”
  • “red sword” vs “crimson blade”
  • “stone texture” vs “rock material”

3. Adjust Thumbnail Size

  • Large thumbnails: Better for visual identification
  • Small thumbnails: See more results at once
  • Use the slider in the toolbar

4. Leverage Auto-Update

  • Leave auto-update enabled during iteration
  • It processes changes in the background
  • No need to manually rebuild after importing new assets

5. Use Filters for Precision

  • If you know you’re looking for a material, enable only “Materials” filter
  • Disable asset types you don’t need
  • Faster results scanning with fewer items

Common Workflows

Finding Reference Assets

  1. Search: “medieval stone wall”
  2. Filter: Enable only “Textures” and “Materials”
  3. Browse results in Tile View
  4. Drag desired asset to your material editor

Organizing Imported Assets

  1. Import batch of new assets
  2. Auto-update will process them automatically
  3. Search: “character face” to find all character textures
  4. Right-click → Find in Content Browser to organize

Discovering Forgotten Assets

  1. Search: “blue magic”
  2. Browse the results
  3. Discover assets you forgot you had!

Next Steps