Prefab World Builder: Build Your Own World

In my first blog post, I will review the Prefab World Builder asset available in the Unity Asset Store.Learn how to build your world with Prefab World Builder! In this review, discover the features of the asset, how to use it and how you can enrich your projects. First of all, you can access the asset via the link below.

(Note: I'm testing this asset on Unity version 2022.3.8f1. Different Unity versions may give different results).

Unity Asset Store Link : https://l24.im/r8dmw

After importing the asset to our project, it comes to Assets -> PluginMaster folder.(Note: I recommend you not to change the folder of the asset. I had various problems with the asset when I moved the folder).

First of all, let's start by opening the necessary windows to use the asset.

From the Tools -> Plugin Master -> Prefab World Builder menu, open the "Toolbar", "Palette", "Brush Properties" windows and place them in the layout position we want on the editor.

Now that we have opened our windows, we can start with creating a palette. We add the folders containing the prefabs we will use to create the scene to our palette by dragging and dropping them into the "Palette" window. (We can create multiple palettes by clicking the arrow icon on the top left and selecting "New palette" in the menu that opens. For example; Animals, Probes etc.

Now we can set up our scene if our palettes are ready, let's set up a Mediaval concept garden, but first let's examine the tools we will use in order.

Pin : With this tool, it is used to automatically pin and place the object on a grid or on a surface on our scene. In addition, with the tool properties, we can place our objects either at a certain scale and at a certain rotation or we can place them randomly. (For example; You can easily place objects such as a structure, ornamental pool, etc. in the garden).

Brush : You might want to add some trees and grass to the scene. With this tool it is very simple to place random trees, grass or rocks in a certain area at the sparseness you want.

Line : The line you draw automatically places the prafabs on a path. For example you can use it to create a road or maybe a train track system.

Gravity : I think it's my favorite tool. :) When we drop our objects on the stage, the objects we drop from a height fall and settle on the stage with physics simulation. For example, I want to fill a basket with apples or a wheelbarrow with coal, it only takes a few seconds to do this with this tool.

Shape : It can be placed in two shapes, Polygon and Circle, and it takes a few seconds to create, for example, a square garden wall.

Tiling : If you want to equip a garden with corn seedlings, this is for you. For example, you can easily add a corn prefab to an area of 4 columns and 4 rows, leaving a certain space between them.

Replacer : You can easily change the prefabs on your stage.

Easer : Remove extra or accidentally added prefabs from the scene with a single click.

For now we will prepare a scene using these basic tools. You can check the documentation of the asset creator from the Unity Asset Store link for more detailed information.

Step 1: First we add a plane to our scene. Then we select the Shape tool and start creating the fence. After selecting the Shape tool, select "Shape : Polygon" as "Number of sides : 4". these settings will allow us to draw the square shape. If you cannot see the Tool Properties window. You can open the window by following Tools -> Plugin Master -> Prefab World Builder -> Tool Properties in the top menu. After selecting the fence prefab on the "Palette" screen, we can draw our square shape on the scene. After drawing our square shape, we place our fence by shifting the start and end points, leaving a little space in between for the door entrance.

Step 2: Our fence is now ready Let's place a structure in the center using the Pin tool.

This time we select the one we want from the structure prefiles on the "Palette" screen and position it on the stage. We can rotate the object 90 degrees with Ctrl + Q shortcut or you can make a more precise clockwise rotation with Ctrl + Shift + Q shortcut. We can also change the Scale value of the object with Ctrl + Mouse Scroll. (To learn extra shortcuts, you can go to Tools -> Plugin Master -> Prefab World Builder -> Preferences... menu, click on the "Shortcuts" tab in the window that opens and examine other shortcuts).

Step 3 : Now let's draw a stone path from the door of the house to the exit of the garden. For this, we select the stone prefab we will use for the road on the "Palette" and in the "Brush Properties" window, set it to "Multiplier : Random" and enter the min and max scale values in the "Between" field, I used 0.5 - 0.7 as an example, it may vary according to the assete you will use. After selecting the "Line" tool, we draw the path and you can edit the space between the prefabs in the "Tool Properties" window to get the image you want. I used Spacing as an example: Constant , Value : 8.49 , Gap Size : -7.45 values.

Step 4 : Let's add some grass to the garden. In order to add the grass to the garden, we need to select a few different grass prefabs and create Multi Brush, so we will add random grass prefabs to our garden in random scales and rotations. Select a few of the grass objects on the "Palette" and right click the mouse, select "New MultiBrush From Selection" in the pop-up menu. A new brush that appears nested in our palette has been created, when we select this brush and come to the "Brush Properties" screen, we see the prefabs we added in the "Multi Brush Settings" field as items. by clicking on these prefabs, we can delete them from the brush and add new ones.

We enter the ranges for the random scale value and random rotation values in the "Brush Properties" screen as we did for the road before. (Note: In the Frequency tab, you can enable objects to be created randomly or for a specific pattern.)

We can paint our grass. After selecting the "Brush" tool, we enter the necessary settings in the "Tool Properties" window. For example, I chose "Shape : Circle" , "Radius : 4.3", "Density : 65". We paint the areas on the stage where we want to add grass.

After painting, you can clean the places you do not want by using the "Easer" tool.

Step 5: Using the "Pin" and "Brush" tool we add details to our scene, a table and a few chairs etc. We can add some stones to the garden. Now my scene looks like this.

Step 6 : Let's add a field area to the right corner of our garden. For this, let's clean the grass and stones at the bottom right using the "Easer" tool and make space for our field. Then select the "Tiling" tool and draw a grid consisting of 3 columns 4 lines.

Step 7 : Finally, let's add an apple tree and a basket with the "Pin" tool. Let's drop apples into our basket using the "Gravity" tool. After selecting the Gravity tool, we make settings such as the height, mass value where the object will be dropped from the "Tool Properties" window and drop our apples into the basket.

Our sample scene is ready, you can make much different level designs in the assets you have in different concepts. Thank you very much for reading my first blog post to the end.

Here are the Final Screen Shots;