Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

[RELEASED] 3x faster level building with hotkey-based gizmo

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by cubrman, Jan 14, 2018.

  1. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    I've just finished developing my plugin for Unity called "Blender Actions".
    The plugin introduces Blender's gizmo and hotkey-based actions into Unity's editor, allowing for 3x faster level building and 5x faster collider editing. Here is the video showcasing the plugin in action:



    Basically the plugin allows you to transform objects and collisions with a hotkey-based gizmo - the same way it works in Blender. All the features are supported: axis lock for transformations, vertex snapping for translation/rotation and scale, 3D cursor and rotation/scaling objects around it as well as rotating/scaling objects with a set number of degrees/fractions. All hotkeys are fully rebindable at any time.

    The tool directly injects itself into the editor, requiring no components/GameObjects or any other extraneous items in your scenes. It can be turned on or off at any time, is deactivated by default when you first add it to your project and if after some time you decide to remove the plugin - Unity will think that you were using standard tools all along.

    If you like what you see - please like the video or leave a comment - it is very important to me. In order to sell this plugin on the Asset Store I will need to change my legal status in Unkraine, which requires time and money. If there is little interest in this plugin, I will most likely not sell it.

    The plugin is currently in open beta stage. If you would like to try it - please contact me at cubrman [at] gmail [dot] com

     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2018
    Gekigengar, Mauri and AGregori like this.
  2. angrypenguin

    angrypenguin

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2011
    Posts:
    15,614
    Having seen your complaint about lack of feedback in another thread, your thread title could use some work.

    I don't usually browse this section, but even if I did "Blender Actions" don't interest me. What might interest me is the boosted productivity. So maybe "Boost productivity with hotkey-based Gizmo [open beta]" might get you some more clicks?

    Note that I'm not your target market. Something that gets my attention might be overlooked by the people who would be interested in buying your stuff, so you'll have to research/test yourself.
     
  3. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Hey, huge thanks for the tip! Will fix it asap.
     
    angrypenguin likes this.
  4. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    AGregori likes this.
  5. mbbmbbmm

    mbbmbbmm

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2013
    Posts:
    59
    I just bought it and will try it out in the next days. If it works smoothly this will be great! Oh and by the way I found it because Blender is in the name, just as a different perspective fyi
     
  6. Elzean

    Elzean

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2011
    Posts:
    584
    sorry if i missed it in video, but can you also enter numbers like in blender to rotate or translate?
    ( something like: G > X > 120)
     
    Gekigengar likes this.
  7. mbbmbbmm

    mbbmbbmm

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2013
    Posts:
    59
    It works for rotating and scaling, regarding translate I am not sure.
     
  8. Elzean

    Elzean

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2011
    Posts:
    584
    Also does it work with stuff like Probuilder to for extrusions or other similar commands ?
     
  9. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Please always feel free to contact me if you have any troubles or suggestions, I am more than willing to improve and grow the instrument but I need feedback for that.


    It works for rotation and scale, I did not add it for translation because it made little sense to me at the time. If you can explain how it could be useful to you and esp. why you can't just do the same using the inspector's Transform component menu I might consider adding it.
     
  10. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    No it does not for now, but it is definitely on the roadmap. I cannot tell you how soon I will be able to implement it but it is definitely coming.
     
  11. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    One more thing, if you have the time, please write a review. My asset is next to invisible on the store due to lack of reviews and every single one would be very helpful now.
     
  12. AGregori

    AGregori

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 2014
    Posts:
    527
    This looks great, and it's competitively priced. But you're expected to do your own promotion on the tried-and-true channels, meaning Facebook, Twitter, Reddit etc... Your Gizmo deserves to be seen by many users, good luck.
     
  13. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Thanks for your kind words. Be sure I am doing my best promoting it on those channels without being too annoying in the process. I am planning to release a series of videos on how to best utilize the plugin followed by 2 articles on either 80.lv or Gamasutra but reviews are out of my power that is why I am calling for help.
     
  14. mbbmbbmm

    mbbmbbmm

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2013
    Posts:
    59
    So far I am very pleased! I wrote a review on the asset store.
    I am not sure how hard it would be to implement, but it would be cool to have a little submenu for Shift-A with the built-in primitives as additional choices. That being said, I know you cannot implement and maintain the whole of Blender in Unity :D
     
  15. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Thanks!


    I might add it in together with ProBuilder support as it would make sense to go together. I've recently seen a plugin on reddit that introduces just that, but activates with the right mouse (or something) but I can't find it now.
     
    mbbmbbmm likes this.
  16. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Here is a quick showcase of 3D cursor and vertex snapping in action:

     
    mbbmbbmm likes this.
  17. Artur2024

    Artur2024

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2016
    Posts:
    2
    I would like to use your plugin in my working program, is it possible?
     
  18. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Are you asking about plugin working at runtime? If you do, then no, unfortunately this plugin is only working in the editor. Right now there are no plans as to adding runtime functionality.
     
  19. halley

    halley

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2013
    Posts:
    2,364
    Move all 6 selected buildings 10 meters north so I can add another road unit between them.
     
  20. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    This what you can do:
    1) select 6 buildings
    2) move them far north
    3) add your road
    4) move the buildings back and snap them to the edge of the road with a [CTRL] vertex snapping

    You can also just move the buildings across the X axis while holding down [SHIFT] to achieve very precise eyeball-positioning.

    This way you road can be not just 6 meters wide but 6.1823791827389712 meters wide and you will still get a perfectly arranged and snapped together level. If you absolutely need the meter-snapping, I believe Unity's grid has exactly 1 meter wide cells so you can just try snapping to a grid. Blender Actions is designed to solve situations where your objects are imperfect and imprecise and need to be positioned at weird angles, for clear cases there are many much easier solutions.

    Sorry, but I don't think I will be adding meter movement into my plugin for now.
     
  21. KiddUniverse

    KiddUniverse

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2016
    Posts:
    115
    hey, great job on this. i always wanted something like this, but never felt like getting into editor scripting. there's a few more options i'd like added to it though, so i might have to learn. either way, very nice asset. thanks.
     
  22. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    I am very happy that you liked it. It's a huge time saver if you prefer this type of workflow.
     
  23. KiddUniverse

    KiddUniverse

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2016
    Posts:
    115
    i'm getting a lot of errors on the current build, and the asset is no longer functioning.

    Any chance of an update?

    edit: i replaced a few obsolete lines and it's back to working again. still getting errors but functionality is back.
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2019
  24. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Really sorry for your experience, yes the asset needs to be updated but I just don't have the time recently. I will try to find some spare moments this weekend.
     
    KiddUniverse likes this.
  25. KiddUniverse

    KiddUniverse

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2016
    Posts:
    115
    ah don't be sorry, it's still my favorite asset. easily the biggest time saver on the asset store if you're used to blender.

    if you are planning to update it, a couple things:

    1. Blender actions don't work if you open your prefab and are operating in "Prefab Mode." If you alter them as regular objects everything works fine, but it probably has to do with the altered prefab workflow as a few of the errors pertain to obsolete code.

    2. if you could add functionality to use translate by using the numpad like for rotation/scale that would be great.

    3. is there anyway to make your custom origin visible at all times, rather than just when snapping it?
     
  26. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    1. Everything should work fine in "Prefab Mode" - it works for me on 2018.4. The only thing that does not work is snapping - which I don't think I will fix as it might be quite difficult.

    2. Oh fine, :) you are the n-th person that asks. Honestly I have no idea why would anyone need it, but fine, I will add it.

    3. Sure, I will add a hotkey for that. I think i will make it visible only when custom origin mode is on.
     
    KiddUniverse likes this.
  27. KiddUniverse

    KiddUniverse

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2016
    Posts:
    115
    the snapping improves workflow substantially, but as long as you can still use it at least not in prefab mode it's no major loss. thanks again for sticking with it.
     
  28. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Hi!

    I've just submitted a new version of Blender Actions for the Asset Store approval.

    The new version of Blender Actions with support Unity 2019.3 and introduce numeric input for the Translation action.

    Comeback in a day or two to grab it, once the Asset Store team has approved it.
     
    KiddUniverse likes this.
  29. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Unity has just accepted the update for Blender Actions to version 1.1 - go grab it.
     
    KiddUniverse likes this.
  30. KiddUniverse

    KiddUniverse

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2016
    Posts:
    115
    i think i've found a bug when using with Unity 2020.1, but it may just be isolated to me. when i try to assign keys to the short cuts the editor immediately crashes, everytime, and the short cut isn't even registered when you restart your project, so there is effectively no way to assign keys from the editor.
     
  31. Gekigengar

    Gekigengar

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2013
    Posts:
    738
    Hey I am thinking to grab this, but is it still being updated?
    Does it work with latest Unity LTS?
     
  32. AGregori

    AGregori

    Joined:
    Dec 11, 2014
    Posts:
    527
    @Gekigengar you can see that it was last updated 1.5 years ago, so no.
     
  33. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Well, though I haven't updated it in a while, the tool must be working. I am using it with 2021.20b1. Try it - if it does not work, please feel free to contact me at cubrman@gmail.com
     
  34. KenjiJU

    KenjiJU

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2012
    Posts:
    20
    Hello,
    I've been using this for 5 minutes and already loving it. On 16:9 it's fine, but I noticed on my 21:9 monitor that Grab will immediately offset the gameobject by the additional screen width and stay offset from the mouse. Any chance for a fix?

    Thanks
     
  35. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Well, that's a tough one... Shoot me an e-mail to cubrman@gmail.com, we might have to go back-n-forth.
     
  36. Reign_of_Light

    Reign_of_Light

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2014
    Posts:
    46
    Hi! I've got the same problem but on a regular 4k 16:10 monitor. Whenever I grab an object (any object) to move it, it is immediately offset from the cursor by a big margin.

    Did you come to any solution with KenjiJU?
     
  37. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    Sorry, 2 jobs prevented me from doing this. I might fix it in the near future (hopefully 1-2 weeks).
     
  38. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    @Reign_of_Light a new version is out and is now in beta-testing stage. Please contact me at cubrman@gmail.com to get a copy. Anyone can apply for then next two weeks or so - then I am uploading it to the store.
     
  39. Arthur_Gentz

    Arthur_Gentz

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2021
    Posts:
    22
    Does this also enable Blender's scene view camera navigation scheme? I much prefer it over Unity's.
     
  40. Arthur_Gentz

    Arthur_Gentz

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2021
    Posts:
    22
    As in,
    ALT + MIDDLE MOUSE + MOUSE DRAG = to snap to front, back, up, bottom, left, or right view?
    MIDDLE MOUSE + MOUSE DRAG = rotate camera in all axes?
    SHIFT + MIDDLE MOUSE + MOUSE DRAG = pan/translate camera without changing rotation?
    CTRL + MIDDLE MOUSE + MOUSE DRAG = zoom camera in/out?

    Please let it be so...
     
  41. cubrman

    cubrman

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2016
    Posts:
    409
    You can now set up most of these in Editor->Shortcuts.
     
  42. Arthur_Gentz

    Arthur_Gentz

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2021
    Posts:
    22
    Right, i'll give that a go, hopefully it works out.