Prefab Palette

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See Also

• Developers
• ContributionsGuide

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Overview

Description:
Prefab Palette is a self contained Unity Editor tool designed to simplify prefab placement in your scenes. Tired of manually dragging and dropping prefabs into the scene, I built this tool that lets you organise prefabs into collections, choose between different placement modes, and just click in the Scene View to place them.

⚠️ Note: No prefabs are included with this project! Example assets are from Raygeas: Grasslands - Stylized Nature.

Unity Compatibility: Unity 2021.2+

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Core Features

• Prefab Collections: Organise assets into custom collections via the Collections Manager or directly from the Project Window’s right-click context menu.

• Palette Window: A dockable browser to visualise and select prefabs quickly through their thumbnails.

• Scene View Overlay: Manage placement settings and toggle Placement Modes without leaving the Scene View.

• Visual Placer: A dynamic target reticle follows your cursor, providing real-time feedback on exactly where and how your prefab will land.

• Placement Modes: Switch between specialised placement behaviors, each with unique logic and settings.

• Fully Configurable: Fine-tune your workflow in the Tool Settings window. Adjust UI scale, reticle colors, physics layers, and more.

• Native Integration: Seamlessly supports Unity’s native Undo/Redo system and standard Snap Controls.

• Extensible Architecture: Built on a modular, state-based design. Implement custom placement logic by following the Developer Guide.

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Installation

1. Download the latest package from the Releases section of the repo.

2. Drag and drop the package into the project window of a unity project.

3. Follow the dialog to import package contents.

4. The prefab palette folder is self-contained, so it can be moved anywhere within the project without breaking, providing its internal integrity is maintained.

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Quick Start

Follow this guide to start using the tool straight away.

Create a Collection

1. In the project view, navigate to your prefab folder/s.
2. Right click on the folder or selected prefab/s you want in the collection.
3. Select Create Prefab Collection from the context menu.
4. Enter a name for your collection in the dialog box.
5. Press Create.
6. After the domain reload, a dialog box will confirm collection creation.

Open the Palette

The palette can be opened through either:

1. The options overlay.
2. Unity Editor Toolbar: Window > Prefab Palette > Palette

Choose Mode

1. Open the tools overlay by either:

• between Unity version 2021.2 & 2022.3: Overlays are hidden by default. Use the backtick key to open the overlay menu, and choose Prefab Palette: Options from the list.
• Unity version 2023.1+: Open with the overlay toolbar icon

2. Choose the desired mode and settings from the Options Overlay in the scene view:
   

Start Placing Prefabs

1. Select the collection from the enum dropdown at the top of the palette window:
2. Select a prefab by clicking its thumbnail:
   
3. A target reticle will appear in the scene view and follow the mouse.
4. Click to place a prefab in the scene.

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Overlay

The overlay is used to toggle common settings, switch between modes, and adjust mode specific options from the scene view. Its size can be customised via the tool settings window.

How to open

Unity Version:

• 2021.2 <--> 2022.3: Overlays are hidden by default. Use the backtick key to open the overlay menu, and choose Prefab Palette: Options from the list.
• 2023.1+: Open with the overlay toolbar icon

Resizing the overlay

See the Overlay options in the Tool Settings & Customisation section.

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Modes

Global Mode Options

These options are available across all placement modes.

Option	Effect
Align with surface?	Align the prefabs rotation with the normal of the surface it’s placed on.

Single

Click to place a single selected prefab instance.

Overlay Options

Option	Type	Effect
Rotation Speed	Slider	Changes how fast the object rotates.
Placement Offset	Vector 3 Field	Positions the object with an offset relative to the click position.
Align With Surface?	Toggle	Rotates the object to match the angle (normal) of the surface clicked on.

Line

Use this mode to draw a line of prefabs and control how the line renders with the overlay options. Useful for fences and walls etc.

Overlay Options

Option	Type	Effect
Spacing	Float Field	Sets the distance between each placed prefab along the line.
Relative Rotation	Vector 3 Field	Rotates each prefab relative to the line's direction.
Variable Rotation?	Toggle	Applies random rotation to each prefab for more organic placement.
Range	Min/Max Slider	Defines the constrained range of rotation per axis.
Axis	Vector 3 Toggle	Enables/disables random rotation per axis.
Chain Lines?	Toggle	Starts the next line from the end of the previous one, allowing continuous placement.
Link Offset	Vector 3 Field	Adds an offset to the start position of the chained line relative to the previous line's endpoint.
Use Alt Objs?	Toggle	Should other objects be placed along the line?
Use Alt Prefab Collection?	Toggle	If enabled, alt object is selected randomly from the alternative collection dropdown.
Alt Object	Game Object Field OR Enum dropdown	If Use Alt Prefab Collection is enabled, choose the collection from the dropdown.�Otherwise, this field takes a prefab to be used as the alt object.
Random?	Toggle	Should the alt obj be placed randomly by probability?
Probability / Interval	Float slider Or Int Field	Probability slider from 0 to 1 if Random is enabled. Otherwise this field is an int for fixed intervals.

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Tool Settings & Customisation

Settings window can be opened via Window > Prefab Palette > Settings

Palette

Option	Effect
Columns	Total number of columns.
Min Scale	Min size of prefab thumbnails.
Max Scale	Max size of prefab thumbnails

Visual placer

Option	Effect
Include Layers	Physics layers that should be included in the placement raycast.
Color	Set the reticle's colour.
Radius	The size of the placer reticle.

Overlay

Option	Effect
Auto Size?	If true, will auto scale the overlay window to fit its contents with no scrolling.
Size	Set a fixed width (x) and height (y) for the overlay. Scroll to reach cropped content.

Window Scaling

Global

Option	Effect
Global Min	Global maximum window scale.
Global Max	Global minimum window scale.

Per Window

Option	Effect
Use Global Window Scale	Defaults to global scale if true.
Min Size	Min window scale.
Max Size	Max window scale.

⚠️ Note: Min Size & Max Size are only visible if Use Global Window Scale is false.

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Support the Project

If you find the tool useful and want to support its development, donations are welcome!

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License

See License file for terms of use, redistribution, & modification etc.

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FAQ

Q: Can't find overlay?
A: Make sure the tool is imported correctly by ensuring the Window toolbar menu has an option for Prefab Palette. If you're using Unity version:

• between 2021.2 & 2022.3: Overlays are hidden by default. Use the backtick key to open the overlay menu, and choose Prefab Palette: Options from the list.

• 2023.1+: Open with the overlay toolbar icon

Q: The tool doesn't show up in the Unity Window toolbar menu?
A: Make sure the tool is imported from the Unity Package correctly, all scripts are present, and you’re using a compatible Unity version.

Q: Objects aren’t placed correctly?
A: Check if your prefab has a root transform offset or collider.

Q: Objects are glitching or stacking as they're being placed?
A: Check ToolSettings > Placer > Include Layers and deselect the physics layer your prefab is on.

Q: Can I use this with terrain?
A: Yes, the tool supports placement on Unity Terrain.

Q: Why can’t the tool be installed via Unity Package Manager?
A: The tool relies on an enum generated at runtime to populate dropdowns with available collections. UPM expects packages to remain unchanged, so generating files at runtime isn’t possible. Since the generated enum needs to reside within the package's assembly definition to be accessible by dependent code, this restriction makes UPM unsuitable for distributing this tool. Working around this constraint would introduce significant complexity.

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Help

For questions, bug reports, or feature requests, please use the GitHub Issues page.
You can also reach out directly via email at reach@frayedfunction.com.

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Changes & Planned Features

Release history is available in Changelog.

Upcoming and planned features are tracked on the GitHub Issues page:

• Filter by the enhancement label to see open feature requests.
• Filter by the bug label to see open bug reports.
• Filter by milestones to see the planned release order (subject to change).

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