Viewport

Viewport Control Skill

Methods

🔀 Camera get/set moved to the engine. ViewportService no longer has set_camera_location / set_camera_rotation. Reading and positioning the viewport camera is now Unreal 5.8's native EditorAppToolset (GetCameraTransform / SetCameraTransform, plus FocusOnActors to frame actors) — reach it with call_tool (run describe_toolset on EditorAppToolset for exact action names/params). ViewportService still owns view type, view mode, FOV, clip planes, exposure, game view, layout, realtime, and camera speed.

Critical Rules

⚠️ Valid View Types for set_viewport_type

Only these exact strings are accepted (case-insensitive):

# ✅ CORRECT
unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_type("perspective")
unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_type("top")

# ❌ WRONG — these are not valid strings
unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_type("ortho")
unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_type("iso")

⚠️ Valid View Modes for set_view_mode

⚠️ Valid Layout Names for set_viewport_layout

🚨 FOV Only Works in Perspective Mode

Setting FOV has no effect in orthographic views. Always switch to perspective first:

unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_type("perspective")
unreal.ViewportService.set_fov(75.0)

🚨 Realtime Mode vs On-Demand

When set_realtime(False), the viewport only repaints on interaction. All ViewportService methods force a redraw after changes, so this is transparent to Python callers — but be aware users won't see continuous animation/particles until realtime is re-enabled.

⚠️ Multi-pane read-back caveat: get_viewport_info().is_realtime reflects the active pane. In a multi-pane layout (e.g. FourPanes2x2) where the active pane isn't the primary, set_realtime(True) can succeed yet is_realtime reads back False. Verify realtime in OnePane layout, or don't rely on the read-back to gate logic when in a split layout. (Other fields like view type / FOV / camera read back correctly across layouts.)

Workflows

Inspect Current Viewport State

import unreal
info = unreal.ViewportService.get_viewport_info()
view_mode = unreal.ViewportService.get_view_mode()
print(f"Type: {info.viewport_type}")
print(f"View Mode: {view_mode}")
print(f"Location: {info.location}")
print(f"Rotation: {info.rotation}")
print(f"FOV: {info.fov}")
print(f"Layout: {info.layout}")
print(f"Realtime: {info.is_realtime}")
print(f"Game View: {info.is_game_view}")

Cycle Through Orthographic Views

import unreal
for view in ["top", "front", "right", "perspective"]:
    unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_type(view)

Switch to Quad View and Back

import unreal
# Switch to quad (2x2) layout
unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_layout("Quad")

# Switch back to single pane
unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_layout("OnePane")

Set Up Architecture Review Camera

import unreal
# Perspective with narrow FOV for minimal distortion
unreal.ViewportService.set_viewport_type("perspective")
unreal.ViewportService.set_fov(60.0)
unreal.ViewportService.set_game_view(True)
unreal.ViewportService.set_exposure(True, 1.0)  # Fixed exposure
unreal.ViewportService.set_realtime(True)

Wireframe Debugging

import unreal
# Switch to wireframe to inspect mesh topology
unreal.ViewportService.set_view_mode("wireframe")

# Return to normal lit view
unreal.ViewportService.set_view_mode("lit")

Position Camera at Specific Location

Camera placement now lives in the engine EditorAppToolset (SetCameraTransform), called via call_tool. From Python you can still drive it through the editor subsystem:

import unreal
# Move camera to a bird's-eye view (location, rotation)
# ⚠️ Rotator positional order is (Roll, Pitch, Yaw) — always use kwargs
unreal.get_editor_subsystem(unreal.UnrealEditorSubsystem).set_level_viewport_camera_info(
    unreal.Vector(0, 0, 5000), unreal.Rotator(pitch=-90))

To frame specific actors instead of guessing coordinates, prefer the engine EditorAppToolset.FocusOnActors action (or load the level-actors skill for ActorService.get_actor_view_camera, which auto-computes a framing position from bounds).

Configure Clipping Planes

import unreal
# Tighten near clip for close-up work
unreal.ViewportService.set_near_clip_plane(1.0)

# Set far clip to avoid rendering distant objects
unreal.ViewportService.set_far_clip_plane(50000.0)

# Reset to defaults
unreal.ViewportService.set_near_clip_plane(-1)  # Engine default
unreal.ViewportService.set_far_clip_plane(0)     # Infinity

Exposure Control

import unreal
# Fix exposure for consistent lighting review
unreal.ViewportService.set_exposure(True, 1.0)

# Adjust to bright/dark scene
unreal.ViewportService.set_exposure(True, -2.0)  # Darker
unreal.ViewportService.set_exposure(True, 4.0)   # Brighter

# Return to auto exposure (game settings)
unreal.ViewportService.set_exposure_game_settings()

Sample scripts (run via execute_python_code)

• scripts/set_camera.txt — position the editor camera and set the view mode.