[RELEASED] ProBuilder 2.0 : Seamless, Intuitive Level Design in Unity. Finally LIVE!

Seamless, Intuitive 3D Creation Level Design for Unity 3D
For full details, tutorial videos, testimonials, etc, visit "www.procore3d.com/probuilder"

New! Just prototyping, or want to test first? Check out our new tool “Prototype“!

5 Stars and 300+ reviews on the Unity Asset Store! http://u3d.as/30b
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The Essential Add-On for Unity Game Developers
Complete Unity’s workflow with seamless, next-gen construction and editing

In-Editor Construction is the ability to build and edit geometry, within the editor itself- no external programs or methods required. By constructing major geometry directly in the scene, Unity becomes a fully real-time, “WYSIWYG” editor. Further, you can perform full game tests instantly, edit immediately, and repeat till perfect. Experienced developers know, this type of workflow is crucial to fluid, agile development.

ProBuilder brings this functionality to Unity, with a focus on powerful-yet-intuitive design, and dedication to continuous development.

“I finally have the ability to quickly layout geometry for a level without the need for external tools. The freedom that has given me is immeasurable and this tool is well worth every cent of the price."​

Real-World Proven: ProBuilder is rated 5 stars on the Unity Asset Store, with over 300+ reviews, and proudly used in high-profile games such as Republique, SUPERHOT, and Tinertia. You can absolutely count on ProBuilder to accelerate your game’s development, lower costs, and result in a better final product. You can view the showcase at "www.procore3d.com/showcase", and testimonials at "www.procore3d.com/testimonials" for real-world examples and voices.

“Must have for level building” | “Should be part of Unity” | “Epic!”​

Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya and similar 3d programs are great for creating your game’s detail meshes, vehicles, characters, etc. However, when you need to create the basic level geometry such as structures, interiors, custom collision, and trigger volumes, you can save countless hours by using ProBuilder.

“I love Blender.. but for my needs and time, ProBuilder is my new modeling heaven right inside the Unity editor!”​

“This has quite literally replaced my use of Lightwave for any prototyping but not only that, full on construction. Within a few minutes of playing with it I knew I had made a great purchase.”​

Fundamentals of Using ProBuilder
ProBuilder 101: Object Mode vs Element Mode; basic Vertex, Edge, and Face editing

Object vs Element Mode
Object Mode and Element Mode are the foundations of ProBuilder. In Object Mode, the ProBuilder object behaves like any other Unity game object, for the most part. In Element Mode, you can edit the individualElements (Vertex, Edge, and Face) that compose the object’s geometry, as well as UVs and per-face textures.




Selecting Elements
Selecting Elements is exactly the same as selecting standard Unity objects. You can click on single elements, use shift to modify selection, and drag-select, just like any other objects.




Manipulating Elements
Manipulating Elements is done with standard Unity controls, nothing new to learn here! We take pride in keeping ProBuilder simple and intuitive for all Unity users.




Notable Features and Functions
These are just a few of ProBuilder’s features- see the Documentation for a full list + details

“Smart” GUI
ProBuilder’s GUI dynamically adapts to your Element Mode and selection. This way, all possible functions are always available, but only when you need them, retaining a sleek and slim GUI.




Extrude
One of ProBuilders best features- select any face or open edge, and simply hold shift while Moving, Rotating, or Scaling to extrude. You can even extrude multiple faces/edges at once!




Vertex Coloring
Use the Vertex Colors feature to quickly apply overlay colors to individual faces- especially great for early map testing, and designating team areas.




Automatic UVs
By default, ProBuilder automatically tracks and updates UVs so you can build distraction-free. Auto-UVs also allow control of Rotation, Tiling, Offset, Fit Method, and more.




Manual UV Editing
New in v2.3, ProBuilder features a complete UV Editor window, for manual unwrapping and fine-grained control. Includes projection modes, UV welding, seam control, element pivots, and much more.




Edge Loop Modeling
ProBuilder is also geared for the powerful “Edge Loop Modeling” workflow, with Loop, Ring, Insert Loop, Connect, Edge Extrusion, and many more edge-focused features. “Edge Loop Modeling” is ideal for fast construction and clean geometry.




In-Scene UV Control
For quick, intuitive control of UVs, you can Move, Rotate, or Scale right on the object- there’s no simpler method!




OBJ Export + ProBuilderize
At any time, you can export your ProBuilder geometry to OBJ format, for modification in an external 3D program or just to save. Inversely, you can even “ProBuilderize” imported models to make them editable with ProBuilder!




“Auto-Stitch” UV Editing
We are very proud of developing this one- a unique blend of manual UVs and auto-layout. Select a face, hold CTRL, and click through adjacent faces to automatically unwrap and stitch. Incredibly fast and precise!




Detach, Delete, Bridge
Select faces and hit “Backspace” to Delete them. Or, simply Detach faces using the GUI button. If you need to repair, or just fill in gaps, Bridge will connect between selected edges.




Procedural Shapes
Choose a Shape to start with, then set many unique parameters, such as Height, Width, Depth, Number of Cuts, and more. Example include: Cone, Arch, Pipe, Stairway, Door, Cylinder, Sprite, and many more.




Weld, Collapse, & Split Vertices
Vertices can be welded together within a custom range, collapsed down to a single vertex regardless of distance, or split apart per-edge, for complete geometry control.




…and much, much more!

ProBuilder includes too many features to list here. View the Documentation for complete info!



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Thank you for looking! Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions/etc! Feel free to post here, or use any of the following:

Email: contact@procore3d.com
Twitter: @ProBuilder3d
ProCore Forum: www.procore3d.com/forum

 

Awesome! Congrats on getting this out the door!

 

Dangit, I need to type faster! Thanks thinksquirrel, it's great to finally open v2.0 to all!

A few testimonials from ProBuilder users:

more online at "www.probuilder3d.com/user-art-and-testimonials"

 

Just double-checking here-- I bought ProBuilder from the Unity Asset Store in December 2012. It appears 2.0 is not available there and must be bought at http://cgcookie.com/unity/downloads/probuilder/ ? Is that correct? Is there an upgrade discount?

 

Version 2.0 should hit the Asset Store as well, it's probably waiting in the submission queue.

 

Zero update cost, and it will be available shortly! Sorry, I'll make that more clear in the main description.

Actually, all "registered" users received 2.0 a few days ago, and I'd be happy to send it over to you as well. Just check the "registration" section at the top of the documentation for details on that. As the docs say, I absolutely respect the privacy of your email, and only use it to send you ProBuilder updates, and the occasional "SixBySeven" email for users of all tools.

Thanks Thinksquirrel for helping out, you were exactly correct

 

I tested ProBuilder and it is a very interesting tool. The problem I see is the creation system based in single cubes. When you create a relativelly complex model with ProBuilder you get an enormous group of those cubes and the Hierarchy view content grows exponentially making it a mess if you create several models in the same scene.
Is there a way to convert each final model in a single mesh?

 

Hi angel_m- the Full version of ProBuilder 2.0 has exactly what you are asking, and more actually. You can merge objects into a single mesh, and still edit them like any other ProBuilder object. The full version also allows you to group objects with a single click, making them much easier to manage. In the future, we might simply have a toggle to hide all ProBuilder objects from the hierarchy list.

 

Nice!
Congrats for the release

 

This is a stunning product. Congratulations.

 

This looks good and what I can deduce from the documentation , very well thought out.

I do have some questions though:
1) do you use a custom shader to get the tiling ? ie , am I locked to a shader ?
2) Can I use texture atlases ?

 

No custom shader required, and texture atlasing is in the to-do queue!

 

Atlasing on the way sounds awesome ,

what I meant with regards to the shaders was; can I use other shaders from other packs like the, shaders from The core framework asset or other custom shaders ?

 

@Hoegbo, certainly! ProBuilder was built to fit with Unity's existing workflow, so materials behave exactly like you would expect. In fact, as an example of custom shader use with ProBuilder, check out the runtime demo here: http://www.probuilder3d.com/probuilder-rt/

That demo makes extensive use of custom shaders, with no modifications to ProBuilder necessary.

 

Sold

 

Thanks Karl!

@Hoegbo- Great! Make sure to register when you purchase

A Note On Materials
ProBuilder can use virtually any shader, material, texture, etc. At the core, it's just another mesh- any material you could put on the standard Unity Cube, you can put on a ProBuilder Object. This means Substance, advanced shaders, etc, all fine!

 

So how does pro builder work with custom meshes? Are we able to drop in our own meshes and edit them in pro builder?

 

Actually, yes, although that part is somewhat experimental. Alex Telford (the awesome Blender artists/scripter HERE), created a script that will take any Blender mesh, and export it as a text file. You can then copy-paste the contents of that text file, into the "Custom Shape" panel, and it will be brought into Unity as a ProBuilder object. I'll try to make a video on this process, although honestly it's just as simple as the above steps.

As for editing other meshes in-Unity, you'll want to take a look at "QuickEdit", in my signature. Thanks for your interest!

 

this is perfect for me to make a quick prototype on probulder lite.

 

Hi cynel- you bet, the free version is very powerful for rapid prototyping! Honestly, I had a last minute crisis on whether I should charge and call it a "basic" version or not...but I really wanted anyone and everyone to be able to try it out. Please do purchase if you find it extremely useful, every bit helps push development forward, and we have much, much more to add!

 

well i don't mind after all making a turned based combat RPG is hard enough with ORK

 

Wow! how did i miss this? As soon as 2.0 is on the asset store I'm buying this. I have so longed for such a tool in Unity!

If I buy it now from the asset store will I automatically get notified when the update is ready like with the other assets or will there be cost to the update?

Thanks!

 

Hi Venged-

No update fee at all- just purchase, then register per the documentation, and I'll send over 2.0 right away.

Thanks for the compliments, glad the tool is what you need! Personally, since I use came from a UDK/Hammer background, and use ProBuilder for level work nearly every day, I can't imagine working without it ProGrids. Take that as a sales pitch or a testimonial, but it's my honest opinion

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Is ProGrids built into Probuilder or should I purchase it also?

I can't wait to get off work tomorrow.

Thanks!!!

 

ProGrids is separate, since I wanted it to also work with all Unity objects, not just ProBuilder ones. It gives you a full, customizable and snap-able grid like other engines have (again, Hammer, UDK, etc). Really handy when you have modular or precise-fitting objects.

Thanks Venged, looking forward to what you create!

 

I think ProGrids should be included (free) in ProBuilder because in other way it could seem ProBuilder customers are forced to buy a second product (ProGrids) in order to be able to use properly the first (ProBuilder) and it is an unpopular commercial practice...

 

I understand, but ProGrids is quite a powerful tool on it's own, hence the decision to sell it separately. If I packaged it with ProBuilder, I would raise the price to suite, since both tools are very much worth the price. I don't want to force everyone to buy both, so I sell them separately to give folks a choice

 

Good point but however I don't lose my argument because if ProGrids is pretty (or very) necessary for using ProBuilder properly it should be included in the product regardless the price you want to receive for it.

 

Just wanted to chime in to say that ProBuilder does work with Unity's built in snapping system. So if you don't wish to buy ProGrids you won't be completely snap-less (though I also think ProGrids is much better suited to the ProBuilder workflow).

 

@cynel (and others) - turning a regular mesh, into a ProBuilder object, now possible! From the latest commit by Karl: "...ProBuilderizeGameObject takes any regular gameobject and creates a new pb_Object with the mesh data."

Honestly, I'm pretty dang excited about that addition myself

 

Does ProBuilder support extrusion or interior extrusion?

 

No extrusion/intrusion (yet!), sorry. At the moment, it's purely the "Hammer (Source)" building method. I know it can seem odd at first, but it's really, amazingly fast. That's my opinion at least, and for what it's worth I did work for several years as a 3DS Max artist at a serious arch-viz company. Ironically, it was there that I began working with Hammer (TF2 mapping), and decided the construction method that engine uses is simply the best for quick, fluid level design. And so ProBuilder was born...heh.

Anyway, I'm tangenting- we do hope to add extrusion/etc in the future, but it adds a huge amount of complexity, and we want to make sure and do it right.

 

OK. Thanks for the answer.

I did buy ProGrid and play with it a bit. I'll need to put in some more time.

 

You bet, thanks for purchasing!

 

Congratulations! Any information on price?

 

Upgrade is free for all current users, and cost is still just $95.

 

So where is it? I've been waiting for an update via the asset store. Seems to be on the old 1.7.3 version.

 

Hi Decarto- I'm just waiting on the Asset Store to approve the package. All users who registered (per the docs) should have already received 2.0 a few days back though, if you'd like to get it (and all updates, really) ASAP, that's the best method.

 

Here's an awesome write-up feature (Thanks Bryan!) -

http://terrameliorrpg.wordpress.com/

Glad to be of help Bryan! The same to all other users- I love to see what you are working on with ProBuilder, and always happy to give design/use tips, as best I can. We (Karl and I) always consider custom feature requests as well, though obviously we can't get to everything right away.

 

I just purchased Probuilder, ProGrids, and QuickEdit. I so look forward to using these tools this weekend. It was all the great comments and the article that was posted above that convinced me. I see you have great support. I was about to buy an asset that cost $200 but decided against it in favor of this one because the author never ever replied to my questions even though I saw he was posting in the forums day after day.

Thanks for these products and the support and information that you provided.

Now I din't have to envy UDK and GameStudio who have similar editors that I wished for in Unity.

Congrats on a great product.

Robert

 

Hi Venged, thanks, that's really good to hear! I really do think ProBuilder can be especially handy for those just starting into game developing/modeling. It's built from the ground up to have zero (or very little) learning curve, until you get into the more advanced techniques. So there's no initial "So...how the heck do I start this?" That's usually the issue with starting a new tool, and we really worked hard to eliminate that barrier.

Not that advanced users should look elsewhere. Simply put, this system is the same that Valve uses in their Hammer editor, except we've made it much simpler to use (and obviously not all the features, though we are adding more all the time!). While simple on the outside, it is a very robust, powerful, and flexible tool that can be extremely handy for any type of game including AAA/etc.

Thanks again Venged, and good points on envying UDK/GameStudio- exactly the purpose of these tools Sorry to hear the other tool wasn't answering, I do my best to be available as much as possible (it's 12:15am now, still answering some forum posts on the sixbyseven forum, heh).

 

Just send in your invoice number, per the email in the docs. The part in bold, highlighted, at the top of the documentation. Wink wink.

Thanks!
gw

 

Hi,

about skinned mesh into ProBuilder object , is it possible ?

Thanks

 

Hi sefou- hmm, I'll let Karl answer this. Although, I can say fairly certainly, if you want to edit a skinned mesh, you are better off waiting for us to update QuickEdit and add skinned mesh editing + vertex deletion. Thanks for the interest!

 

Thanks!!

 

Thanks I found it and sent the info. Gonna be a fun weekend for me(-:

 

but for now i may have to use some assets from angry bots in the prototype

 

Not currently possible, no. However, not out of the question for future development. In the meantime, you can export ProBuilder objects to Obj then weight paint in your 3d app of choice.

 

Hurray! Now available on the Asset Store!

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/3558

 

Users who are upgrading a scene from 1.x or 2.0 Beta:

ProBuilder 2.0 is, 100% literally, a FROM SCRATCH rebuild, with completely different method, code, and even language. It's a whole new beast, and massively better for the change. However, this means upgrading from 1.x, or even any of the 2.0 beta versions, is ugly business.

Please everyone, BACKUP your ENTIRE project before updating to ProBuilder 2.0!

If the update process doesn't work for you, we are standing by to help with custom fixes, since there are quite a few unique factors that could cause trouble. I've even given all user's my Skype name in the Upgrade GUI, so you can get instant help if needed

But please, backup your entire project first. I would hate to hear that anyone lost all their hard work...been there, done that, myself!
Best,
gw