Install UnrealCV Plugin
This page briefly describes how to install UnrealCV as a UE4 plugin. Make sure you read getting started before trying to use the plugin.
Use compiled plugin binary
You can download compiled UnrealCV binaries from our github release page. Then copy the compiled binaries to the plugins folder to install it. Build it yourself by following the Compile from source code. You can install the plugin to either a game project or to UE4 engine.
- Install to project
Go to project folder which contains
[ProjectName].uproject
Create a folder called
Plugins
Put
UnrealCV
folder into thePlugins
folder.
- Install to Unreal Engine
Go to the plugin folder of Unreal Engine which is
Engine/Plugins
Put
UnrealCV
folder into thePlugins
folder.
Open Menu -> Edit -> Plugins
, make sure UnrealCV is installed and enabled. You have to be in play mode before you type the commands.

Install from UE4 marketplace (coming)
For Windows and Mac user, UnrealCV will be released to the UE4 marketplace. We are still finalizing the submission to the UE4 marketplace and it will be available soon.
Compile from source code
If you want to try a version of UnrealCV not provided in our github release page, for example, you want to try some experimental features not released yet. Compiling the plugin code from source code is the only choice.
To compile UnrealCV plugin, use
pip install -U unrealcv
# Install the latest version of unrealcv, the build.py depends on unrealcv.automation module
python build.py
# This script will search common Unreal Engine folders of Windows and Mac
# If this script fails to find UE4 installation path, you can also manually specify the engine path
python build.py --UE4 {UE4}
# For example
# python build.py --UE4 "/Users/Shared/Epic Games/UE_4.16"
After running this command you should see Automation.Execute: BUILD SUCCESSFUL
and the plugin binaries will be produced in the Plugins/UnrealCV
folder. Then you can copy the compiled plugin to Plugins folder.
If you want to modify UnrealCV code and add new features. Please refer to the development setup. Setting up a dev environment takes a bit more time but will make it much easier to debug and modify code.
Note
When using the plugin in the editor, it is strongly recommend to turn off the setting Editor Preference -> General -> Misc. -> Use Less CPU when in Background
.
Special tips for Linux
In Linux, the Unreal Engine needs to be built from source code. How to compile from source code can be found in this official document Building On Linux.
Previous versions of unrealcv depends on using OpenEXR module to generate depth, this requirement has been removed.