Install from Fab
- Acquire Inkwell on Fab.
- Open the Epic Games Launcher → Library, find Inkwell in your Fab library, and choose Install to Engine, picking the engine version your project uses.
- Restart the Unreal Editor if it was open. The plugin is now installed for every project on that engine version.
Installing it as a project plugin instead
Installing it as a project plugin instead
Copy the
Inkwell folder into your project’s Plugins/ directory (create it if it does
not exist) so the structure reads YourProject/Plugins/Inkwell/Inkwell.uplugin, then
restart the editor. This is what teams that vendor their plugins in source control do.A project plugin installed from source has no prebuilt binaries — see
C++ and Blueprint-only projects below.Enable it — per project
Installing is not enabling. Inkwell is not enabled by default, so every project that uses it turns it on once:- Open Edit → Plugins and search for Inkwell (it is under the Content category).
- Check Enabled, and restart the editor when prompted.
C++ and Blueprint-only projects
Everything in the runtime module is Blueprint-callable — components, the page actor, the UMG widget, the document API, even the settings accessors. A Blueprint-only project can use 100% of Inkwell without writing a line of C++ and without being converted to a C++ project.
Adding Inkwell does not force a project to become a C++ project either way — the plugin
compiles as a plugin, not as project code.
Where the plugin content lives
The plugin ships content mounted at/Inkwell/. To see it in the Content Browser —
including the showroom map — enable Settings → Show Plugin Content; it then appears
under Plugins → Inkwell Content.
Nothing in your project has to reference these paths. Every asset Inkwell loads resolves
through project settings, so any of them can be repointed at your own content.
Check that it worked
Four things should be true after enabling the plugin and restarting:1
The toolbar entry
A Page Editor dropdown button appears in the Level Editor toolbar. It lists your
recent documents and every Page Document in the project, can create a new one, and has
a Documentation entry that opens this site.
2
The Tools menu
Tools → Inkwell appears in the main menu, with the same entries — this is the route
to use if your project’s toolbar is customized or crowded.
3
The asset type
Right-clicking in the Content Browser offers Inkwell → Page Document, and creating
one gives you an asset that opens in the Inkwell Page Editor window on double-click.
4
The plugin content
With Show Plugin Content on, Plugins → Inkwell Content is browsable, the five
font families are in
/Inkwell/Fonts/, and opening /Inkwell/Maps/L_InkwellShowroom
and pressing Play puts you in the demo room. That is the whole plugin exercised end to
end — the quickstart starts there.Settings that matter on day one
Everything lives under Project Settings → Plugins → Inkwell (UInkwellSettings). The
settings are defaultconfig, so changes are written to your project’s
Config/DefaultGame.ini and travel with source control. Most of them can be left alone
forever; these are the ones worth a look before you author your first real document.
Two more you will not touch on day one but should know exist: Page Ink Material and
Page Sheet Mesh. Repointing the first lets you draw pages with your own material (a lit
parchment shader, say) as long as it exposes the parameters listed under Material
Parameters; the second swaps the default sheet mesh. The full table of every setting is in
the settings reference.
If a required setting is cleared or its asset fails to load, Inkwell logs one warning per
session on
LogInkwell naming the exact setting to fix — for example “Set ‘Project
Settings > Plugins > Inkwell > Page Ink Material’” — rather than failing silently. When
something does not appear, the Output Log filtered to LogInkwell is the first place to
look.Before you package
Fonts cook through Font References
Fonts cook through Font References
Rich-text markup stores fonts as string paths, which the cooker cannot see. Each Page
Document carries a Font References array of hard references, rebuilt by the Page
Editor’s Save Document button. You never edit it by hand — but do save documents
from that button, and do not delete the array.
Assets you repoint in settings
Assets you repoint in settings
The setting defaults live in plugin content and cook with it. If you point a setting at
a project asset that nothing else references, confirm it is included in the cook — for
example through Additional Asset Directories to Cook.
Demo input is real input
Demo input is real input
Two bundled conveniences bind ordinary runtime keys, not editor-only ones. The demo
Ink Page Interactor’s Enable Default Input binds its Interact / Put Back /
page-turn keys (E, Q, Left, Right by default, plus the mouse wheel),
and the production Ink Page Reader’s Bind Flip Key binds F. If you use
either component, turn the option off once you bind your own input — or those keys
stay live in the shipped game. The interactor itself, along with the reader character,
game mode, exhibit component and prompt widget, is a demo/reference piece and not
recommended for production use in the first place.
Next
Quickstart
Press Play in the showroom, author a document, and wire reading into your own
interaction system.
Settings reference
Every entry under Project Settings → Plugins → Inkwell, with real defaults.
Fonts
The five bundled families, and importing a folder of TTFs as a family of your own.
Example content
What ships in the showroom and /Inkwell/Examples/, and how each piece is wired.