[Released] QuickBrush: Prefab Placement Tool

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/15237
Need to place large quantities of objects with ease? QuickBrush brings you a convenient way to flesh out your environments by mass placing prefabs with a fast, brush-based workflow. Drag & Drop your prefabs into the QuickBrush window, then paint them onto any surface with brush strokes, or place them with qb's precision placement mode. Paint on any surface. Scatter, randomize, group, and paint by layer with a user-friendly interface and workflow. QuickBrush is designed to save you time.

Edit: 1.1 Update:
Hi, there. Quick Brush 1.1.0 has been submitted to the asset store. It should be up in a few days. QB 1.1 comes with several handy new features and numerous performance and workflow refinements - many based on user feedback. QB now features multi-brush painting, tab based template management, an expandable prefab pane, improved saving and loading, improved grouping, and more. Check out the change log below and peruse the new HTML documentation included with the pack. You can pick it up here: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/15237 (1.1 will be up in a few days)



v1.1.0 Change Log:

New Feature: Multi-brush painting. Use multiple brushes simultaneously, each with its own settings.
New Feature: Added a master On/Off toggle which allows the user to free up the hotkeys used by qb without closing the tool window. (just click on the brush indicator icon to turn qb on/off)
New Feature: Tab Based Interface
New Feature: Prefab list display can be toggled between scrollable and grid mode
New Feature: qb now comes pre-compiled as a dll (release version only)
New Feature: Improved handling of tool closure - Templates are maintained between sessions without saving along with things like which prefab is selected, so when the tool is closed for a moment, it can be re-opened with all settings intact.
New Feature: Improved save system - among other improvements, qb notices attempts to override existing templates, and throws many useful dialogs for greater clarity of usage.
New Feature: Improved handling of groups - (groups are no longer stored by index, but can be recreated at paint time from stored names). Also Group erasing options are applied in a better way, allowing, for example, to erase only objects that belong to no groups
New Feature: Improved cursor with line to show surface normal
New Feature: Better graphic icons and icon states
New Feature: Log Messages for tab operations
New Feature: Added "Edit/Preferences" menu for qb (currently just to toggle Log Messages)

Fixed Bug: Interface Slow-down and Repainting has been fixed.
Fixed Bug: Secured against user created classes overlapping with UnityEditor.Tool calls inside of qb
Fixed Bug: Reset Defaults no longer reloads old settings when a tab is re-accessed by user
Fixed Bug: Fixed bug with object distribution across brush surface

Tweak: Changes have been made to how hotkeys are handled (this should keep qb from taking over the ctrl key when it shouldn't)
Tweak: Better layer testing in object placement pass.

PLUS: Many subtle workflow and performance tweaks

-----------------ORIGINAL VERSION 1.0 POST BELOW -----------------
​

Hey, guys. Check out my new tool. QuickBrush gives you a convenient way to flesh out environments by mass placing your prefabs with a fast, brush based workflow. It's designed to save time and features useful randomization, grouping and sorting options, and a user-friendly interface.

Check out the overview:
[video=youtube_share;B1aR7x7zhJM]

Features:
v 1.0
-Easy Drag Drop prefab selection
-Painting / Erasing / Individual Placement Mode
-Simple keyboard shortcuts
-User controlled prefab randomization
-Layer bound painting
-Selection bound painting
-Object grouping
-Align to Surface
-Align to Stroke
-Randomized scale - overall/per-axis
-Randomized rotation offsets - per axis

Let me know what you think, and what features and improvements you'd like to see in future versions.

Thanks

 

Hi there,

I purchased Quick Brush late last night and I'm becoming a big fan already! Great tool.

I have one small problem on the iOS platform when it comes to build to my iPhone. I get the following error:

Assets/ProCore/QuickBrush/QuickBrushClasses/qb_ObjectContainer.cs(2,7): error CS0246: The type or namespace name `UnityEditor' could not be found. Are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?

I am guessing that the Editor parts need comments etc around to let Unity know not to compile them. I partially fixed the error by removing the ProCore folder and then compiling.

Once you do remove the plugin I have noticed my project become bogged down for some reason. I'm not sure why but I reverted to a backup.

Hopefully these things will be fixed soon as this is promising to be a great tool.

Specs: Mac 10.9 / Unity 4.3.4 Pro

 

Thanks for your purchase and your feedback, cl-apps. I tracked the issue and I'm working on a fix right now. I'll submit an update to the Asset Store as soon as I'm done. In the meantime you can e-mail playTangent@proCore3d.com with your invoice info to receive an updated version of the tool asap, as the submission process to the asset store can take a couple of days.

 

The fix has been submitted to the Asset Store as v1.0.2. I'll add a post when it's up. More improvements in the works.

 

v1.0.2 is still pending at the Asset Store. Meanwhile, thanks to the great feedback I've been getting, I was able to catch an important bug. v1.0.3 is available to registered users via the mailing list. I'm currently working on some new features for 1.0.4, including the ability to save multiple brushes. More soon.

 

v1.0.2 has cleared the Asset Store submission process. v1.0.3 is now pending approval. 1.0.3 solves a bug involving the duplication of items in the prefab selection pane, which in turn would cause unity to slow down. If you purchased QuickBrush, grab 1.0.3 by e-mailing your invoice info to playTangent@proCore3d.com to avoid this bug <> Now that the known bugs are resolved, I'm working on new features and workflow improvements for the larger 1.0.4 update.

 

QuickBrush version 1.0.4 is now available on the asset store. It comes packed with handy new features and fixes. https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/15237


The ability to save brushes, including prefab sets, has been added via Save Slots at the bottom of the toolbar.


'Paint to Layer' now works with multi-layer masking so any number of layers can be simultaneously designated as paintable.


New rotation settings add another layer of customization with the addition of alignment flipping and split sliders for random offset ranges.


A position offset drop-down has been added for extra control over placement. This can be especially handy for embedding trees in the ground, for example.


Also, QuickBrush is no longer location dependent. The QuickBrush folder can be moved freely within your project without affecting its internal references.


v1.0.4 Change Log

Fixed Bug: Icon locations were hard-coded causing breakage if QB was placed in a location other than the main Assets folder

New Feature: Brushes can now be saved to memory slots located at the bottom of the tool

New Feature: Alignment axes can now be flipped with a toggle

New Feature: Rotation Offsets now use split sliders for added control and have an easy reset button

New Feature: A position offset option has been added. Especially handy for embedding objects in the ground

New Feature: Paint to Layer allows you to select multiple layers instead of just one

New Feature: A "Restore Defaults" button returns settings to original presets

Tweak: Scale offset fields now have an extra digit of precision

 

This looks really nice and simple tool!

A couple of really basic questions. Is it possible to use this tool with Unity terrain? Also, is it possible to set it up so that you can paint only on certain textures on terrain?

 

Purchased!!

Well done! very intuitive indeed.

Perfect UI

Price = very generous of you

 

@mk1978
Currently, QB treats meshes like hand placement does, not altering them or merging them into terrain. You can certainly paint prefabs onto Unity terrain, but QuickBrush doesn't combine them in the way that the built in terrain tools do. I'm looking into adding a similar type of functionality as an option in v1.1, though.

To your second question, the current version (1.0.4) doesn't have a paint to texture option, mainly because it hadn't occurred to me to include it. But it's a great idea, so thanks for bringing it up. It is now on my to-do list.

 

@MoHoe
Thanks

 

Does QB control object stacking (Y-axis) when painting, eg, prevents placing a grass model on top of another painted grass model.

 

Yes. QB raycasts against colliders for placement. If your prefab doesn't have a collider that kind of stacking will never occur. If your prefab does have a collider, you can simply enable "Paint to Layer" and then deselect the Layer that your prefab belongs to in the Layermask dropdown below.

 

does this tool impact the drawcalls on the scene? Can the prefabs be saved as a single object?

 

Whenever quickbrush is visible in the unity editor, unity uses 20% processor. And becomes little bit unresponsive. Because of this, my computer is heating up unnecessarily, and i have to close quickbrush right after using it.
Possibily a memory leak or something.

 

Prefabs are placed in the scene in the same way as if they were hand-placed, so they conform to the usual rules for draw call batching. If your prefabs are set up to batch, they will do so when placed with QB, as long as they are set to scale uniformly in the scaling foldout. I had considered adding an option to merge meshes, but there are drawbacks. The main one is that this method could not be applied to all possible types of prefabs. Animated prefabs, ones with scripts, and ones with different materials would have issues. There are probably several other edge cases that would have to be accounted for as well. I don't think the result would be very intuitive to use, and it would limit what you can do with the objects once placed. There may be an elegant and useful way of doing it, but I have yet to find one.

PS: There was a small scaling error when painting to a group that would mess with batching. That is solved in the newest version of the tool 1.0.5, now on its way to the asset store. It will be up in a few days. You can e-mail playTangent@proCore3d.com to get it sooner. It also adds 4.5 compatibility.

 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have not experienced this issue, nor has it been reported to me before. I'll do some experiments tonight and hopefully track down what you're seeing.

 

If you can't recreate this, try switching to android build.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried this and a few other things, but I have not yet been able to reproduce the issue. It may help me to know your system specs and the version of unity you are using. You can e-mail me at playTangent@proCore3d.com

 

Version 1.0.5 of QuickBrush has made it to the Asset Store. This version adds unity 4.5 support and a significant change to how brush templates are managed, along with several smaller features, bug fixes and tweaks. The highlights:

1. Brush Templates
In previous versions of QB, brush settings could be saved to each of 6 slots at the bottom of the tool window. The slots would maintain their settings until cleared by the user. But this limited the number of brushes that could be saved, and I got feedback asking for more. So in version 1.0.5 brush settings are saved instead to .qbt (quick brush template) files, in the folder ProCore/QuickBrush/Templates. These files can be loaded into each of the six brush slots at the bottom of the tool. The result is that the number of stored brush templates is no longer limited and templates can be shared and committed with version control software.

When you open QuickBrush 1.0.5, the brush settings are disabled. To begin editing brush settings, begin by clicking on the blue arrow icon ( I may replace this with a standard 'open file' icon in the next version) above the brush slot you would like to use. A drop down list will appear, containing any saved brush template files by name along with the the option to create a "New Template".



Once a template is created or loaded, you can edit its settings. The template can be saved by using the name field and the save button next to it.



To delete a template simply navigate to the Templates folder and delete it there (let me know if you'd like some other control added for this instead).


2. Rotation Offsets
Based on user feedback, I added integer entry fields for the rotation offsets. This gets around the relative imprecision of the sliders.




3. Eraser Options
Based on user feedback, I added a new foldout which gives some extra control over erasing.



'Erase by Group' restricts erasing to just the group selected in the Sorting Settings foldout, if 'Group Placed Objects' is checked and a group is selected. Otherwise the eraser ignores this setting.

'Erase Selected Prefab' restricts erasing only to instances of the prefab checked in the prefab panel. If no prefab is checked, the eraser ignores this setting.

These settings stack, so you can elect to erase only objects that are instances of a specific prefab belonging to a specific group.


Change Log
Fixed Bug: Scaling error when painting prefabs into groups
Compatibility: Added Unity 4.5 compatibility

New Feature: Brush templates are now saved into files instead of EditorPrefs, allowing them to be shared and compatible with version control
New Feature: Eraser Options foldout allows the eraser to be restricted
New Feature: Rotation Sliders now also have entry fields

Tweak: QB now prevents the user from creating groups with duplicate names
Tweak: Object randomness weight is now saved with the brush template
Tweak: Various small tweaks were made to how the controls are placed and behave, including clearing of fields when buttons are pressed.

I may make a new video as a reference for these features, or I may wait for the next version. There are already a few useability tweaks I'm planning to implement. More in a bit.

 

I've found a few really annoying issues with QuickBrush:

1. Cntrl-D doesn't work to duplicate assets anymore. (Probably due to the overriding of the Cntrl key.)
2. When using a large number of prefabs, QuickBrush works incredibly slow and/or not at all. (Likely due to using algorithms which are either Big O(n^2) or worse.)
3. Sometimes I have to open the QuickBrush window (or bring it in to focus) in order for the settings to kick in. With the QuickBrush window not in focus, the default values are always used.
4. Weird issue where the prefab icons flash when using lots of prefabs (like it is re-drawing the icons over and over again.)
5. There are only 6 slots.

 

Hi LVBen,
Thanks for taking the time to write this feedback. This kind of stuff is very useful. I'm working on the newest version right now, and I'll do my best to address these issues. A lot of workflow refinements are coming as well.

(1) I'll probably keep QB from eating the CTRL key event. This still leaves the fact that you can't CTRL-click to select multiple objects in the scene, because QB has to eat mouse events while its active (so that you can paint without accidentally selecting objects in the scene). So I'll probably add an on/off toggle for qb and maybe the ability to map keys.
(2) This is most likely due to the same re-painting issue as #4.
(4) This is a side-effect of repainting the window to get tips at the bottom to be responsive and providing visual feedback in the brush window when input is made while painting. I'll find a more efficient way of doing it. There are several things I already have in mind to keep the load from getting too high.
(5) This is why the templates are save-able now. You can have any number of brushes saved in your project. But the next step is to make the interface tab based and allow for more slots. I'm putting a lot of work into this aspect of the new release, because it will be the basis of another really useful feature that will be in the upcoming version.

I have a good idea how to deal most of these. I'm only a bit puzzled by #3 on your list. It would help me a bunch if you could elaborate or give an example, because I haven't run into this particular problem in my tests, and I don't think it has come up before. You can post here or on the QuickBrush sub-forum at ProCore: http://www.protoolsforunity3d.com/forum/index.php?/forum/25-quickbrush/ . I'm also very easy to reach via e-mail at playTangent@proCore3d.com and if you e-mail me with your invoice info, I can use your e-mail address to send you pre-release versions of the tool as they come together. Thanks.

 

Hey Sebastian, I realized that I have the code, so I made so modifications to qb_Painter.cs to make it work better for me.

For #1, I made the control press only get absorbed when the mouse is over the sceneview window by modifying the code in the "if (Event.current.control)" condition like so:

if (Event.current.control)
{
if (mouseOverWindow == sceneView)
{
ctrlDown = true;
}
}

Though, a QuickBrush on/off switch would likely be useful as well.

The two re-draw issues (#2 and #4) appear to be caused by the way you are using GetAssetPreview for every prefab and drawing every single preview. You only need to draw the prefabs that are visible.

Adding something like this inside the for the loop helped for me:

if (prefabButtonRect.x + prefabButtonRect.width >= prefabFieldScrollPosition.x &&
prefabButtonRect.x <= prefabFieldScrollPosition.x + 246)
{

*though, I also had to change the way the rects were determined, so I made some changes to do that as well.

For #6, I started using the saving and loading feature and it works great. Thanks!

I also went through and cleaned up some stuff based on suggestions by Resharper. I'll e-mail the modified file to you. You can use my changes for anything you want or if you could just use it for ideas.

Cheers!

 

For #4, it is pretty easy to reproduce. I have 4 tabs all in one window including the Inspector and the QuickBrush. If I select Inspector (QuickBrush is not shown), minimize Unity, and then maximize Unity, all of my settings for size and rotation work as if they are the default values. As soon as I switch back to the QuickBrush tab, the correct settings kick in.
This issue has been really frustrating, because I've spent a lot of time placing prefabs and then I eventually realize that all of them are the exact same size and rotation and then I have to erase them all, swicth to the QukckBrush tab, and do it over again.

 

Ok. That last one will be on my list for today. As I said, I'm working on a new version, which has become a signifficant overhaul. I have the efficiency issues licked on my end, but ill see if some of the changes you send can be incorporated to make stuff even better. It will still be a little while until I get the new release out because of the new features I'm adding. I appreciate your initiative and all the useful info.

 

I tried getting some more info on #4, but for the most part it seems like I'm not able to get it to happen anymore, but I did notice that the "Group Placed Objects" feature definitely stops working if I play and stop my game while the QuickBrush tab is not selected.

 

Anyway, thanks for the support. It is a great tool!

 

Hi, there. Quick Brush 1.1.0 has been submitted to the asset store. It should be up in a few days. QB 1.1 comes with several handy new features and numerous performance and workflow refinements - many based on user feedback. QB now features multi-brush painting, tab based template management, an expandable prefab pane, improved saving and loading, improved grouping, and more. Check out the change log below and peruse the new HTML documentation included with the pack. You can pick it up here: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/15237 (1.1 will be up in a few days)



v1.1.0 Change Log:

New Feature: Multi-brush painting. Use multiple brushes simultaneously, each with its own settings.
New Feature: Added a master On/Off toggle which allows the user to free up the hotkeys used by qb without closing the tool window. (just click on the brush indicator icon to turn qb on/off)
New Feature: Tab Based Interface
New Feature: Prefab list display can be toggled between scrollable and grid mode
New Feature: qb now comes pre-compiled as a dll (release version only)
New Feature: Improved handling of tool closure - Templates are maintained between sessions without saving along with things like which prefab is selected, so when the tool is closed for a moment, it can be re-opened with all settings intact.
New Feature: Improved save system - among other improvements, qb notices attempts to override existing templates, and throws many useful dialogs for greater clarity of usage.
New Feature: Improved handling of groups - (groups are no longer stored by index, but can be recreated at paint time from stored names). Also Group erasing options are applied in a better way, allowing, for example, to erase only objects that belong to no groups
New Feature: Improved cursor with line to show surface normal
New Feature: Better graphic icons and icon states
New Feature: Log Messages for tab operations
New Feature: Added "Edit/Preferences" menu for qb (currently just to toggle Log Messages)

Fixed Bug: Interface Slow-down and Repainting has been fixed.
Fixed Bug: Secured against user created classes overlapping with UnityEditor.Tool calls inside of qb
Fixed Bug: Reset Defaults no longer reloads old settings when a tab is re-accessed by user
Fixed Bug: Fixed bug with object distribution across brush surface

Tweak: Changes have been made to how hotkeys are handled (this should keep qb from taking over the ctrl key when it shouldn't)
Tweak: Better layer testing in object placement pass.

PLUS: Many subtle workflow and performance tweaks

 

Hi Sebastian,

I have one question for you: I have many LOD versions about prefabs, can how to place with QB?
Thanks in advance

 

Hmm since the last update i cannot get QB to paint. The prefabs are there as usual, the paint circle appears in the scene view as usual but nothing is placed when I use CTRL Click. Im using Unity 5.5.5p1. Have I forgot something?

 

Since qb just places instances of your prefabs, you would set up your LOD for the prefabs as usual: http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/LevelOfDetail.html

 

You could check the layer settings to make sure that the layers of the surfaces in your scene match the mask selected in the tool. Also if you're painting with multiple brushes (by checking the tabs at the bottom) it's easy to loose track of which brush paints to which layers. That's my first guess, but I could be way off. Give it a look and let me know if the issue persists. If we have a bug, I'd love to squash it ASAP. In that case, you can send me some screenshots, or even a package with your scene and relevant prefabs to playTangent@proCore3d.com and I can try to replicate the problem and get it fixed.

BTW - Unity 5.5.5p1 or typo?

 

I reimported and checked the layers as you said and it fixed the issue. I think it was my fault!

thanks!

 

I had the same problem as Matt. Got it working now, but it seems the default layer setting is 'Nothing'. Might be a good idea to default it back to 'Everything' for the next release.


Images in the prefab selection sometimes don't appear also, restarting Unity seemed to clear it up though.

 

Nevermind. I got it to work.

 

Someone please help. I just got the tool, and I can't get it to create any prefabs whatsoever. I've unchecked "paint to layer", I've tried drawing in different scenes, but I get nothing. I don't know if this helps, but the prefab doesnt show up in the preview after I drag it in (unless I close it and open it again).

Note that I'm not trying to paint on a surface. I'm just trying to make them in 2D view. When I try to draw on top of a 3D object I do see a blue circle with a line, but still nothing draws.

 

Hi, Milun.
qb is designed to paint prefabs onto surfaces. So I'm not surprised that it isn't placing prefabs in the 2D view without a surface. That said, painting onto virtual planes (grid) is a feature I've been considering. I'd be curious to know how you would like something like that to work. You can e-mail me at playTangent@proCore3d.com

The bit about the prefabs not properly dropping into the tool sounds like it could be a bug. Do me a favor and try one thing before we investigate further: in your project view, right click on the top folder and click re-import. I've heard of Unity failing to properly compile qb on first import. If that doesn't help, I'd like to get on Skype or some other service that allows screen sharing so I can observe the behavior. Send me an e-mail and we can set that up.

 

Yeah, that seemed to fix it. If you're thinking to make it work for 2D, then I'd recommend having a "grid X/Y" parameter, as well as one for depth (z). Game Maker has a really good level (room) editor to take inspiration from if you're curious.

Also, I've managed to get it working by placing a 3D plane behind my 2D field. I needed to disable all rotation and make the spacing = to my sprite width. My 2D prefabs have a script which automatically snaps them to a grid, so that in combination with your program has enabled it to be a pretty handy level editing tool.

There's only two problems: The precision placement works, but bugs out, and the eraser tool just doesn't do anything for me.

 

Hello,
I just bought your Asset, and I am not happy with it for moment.
It's possible to plant/place prefab on each other, I would like to place 5000 trees on my scene, and it's not possible with your asset for this reason.

 

Hey Menfou. Just a fellow QB user here, but if this helps, awesome. There is an option inside 'Sorting Settings' called 'Restrict to Selection'. Once that is checked you can select the ground mesh you want the trees on and they won't attach to each other.


For SebastionPatric, the brush settings saving/loading action is really confusing, I still have no idea what I am doing, the large folder icon, the small folder icon, the large floppy disc, the small floppy disc, the cross, the star, the tick. I think it could be worth refining.

Another refinement you may wish to look into is making the settings uniform in display/function. 'Brush Settings' has the radius/spacing fields that you can't edit, the the min and max below split in vertical columns. 'Object Rotation' has split sliders, 'Position' has a single edit field(why not the same split sliders layout as rotation?) the Scale has a bizarre new layout, with a split slider on the left and the min and max stacked vertically on the right. Position and Scale could both be like Rotation.

It is hard to explain clearly what I mean with words so I made an edit to show you what I mean.

 

Hello,
I already tried this option, but nothing.
I checked 'Restrict to Selection' and add a Box Collider to my tree Prefab and now it's ok.
My tree had only a Nav obstacle before.

Thank you.

 

Thanks for your excellent feedback. I'm working on a new tool at the moment, but I'll do a QuickBrush update as soon as that's wrapped up. I'm probably going to remove scatter amount altogether, since it just works as a modifier to the brush size. Someone asked for texture based scatter, so that might be added, along with time based placement (spraypaint), and painting to virtual planes. I can't promise that the new layout will be exactly as you've shown here, but you raised good points and I'll use your ideas as a starting point for improvements

 

Hi,
I think the reason the first option didn't work might have been a blunder on my end. Thanks to some recent user feedback I've been able to track down a few issues that were causing placement to fail. An update will be in the asset store and on the proCore site as soon as I test everything and make sure that no new bugs were introduced with the changes.

Thanks

 

As I said in the post above. I may have tracked down a bug. Please e-mail me playTangent@proCore3d.com and let me know that this is you and I'll send you an updated tool to try before I submit an update. That way, if something else is going on, I can try to fix it and include it in the new version.

By the way, I am working on a new tool specifically for tile based level editing.

 

Excellent news, I appreciate you taking a second look at the layout. I wasn't trying to push that layout as a final option, just to highlight where things were currently confusing, or less elegant.

 

Hello, In 4.6.1p3 quickbrush's green tick and red X buttons doesn't work. I tried with new project, re-download newest version, etc. But it definitely doesn't work.

 

Thanks, I'm on it.

 

Maceka,
Sorry for the inconvenience. Please e-mail me and I'll send you a fix. I'm submitting it to the store as well, but they take a couple of days to approve it.

 

SebastianPatric,
I had another feature idea the other day. The 'restrict to selection' option could parent to selected also, or parent an automatic QB group to the selected object.

 

I had to delete Quickbrush from my project. It was not allowing me to access the inspector but instead showed only Quickbrush. Very odd.

I have the ProCore Bundle set and I am disappointed that you haven't updated Quickbrush for the bundle. I really rely on this brush and hate the thought of having to buy another one. Any chance it will be updated soon?

I hope the rest of the ProCore features will also be updated. This was not an inexpensive purchase for us and I hate to have to toss it aside. It is very good, too good not to use.