Smart Library - Enhanced Asset Organization

Smart Library boosts your project's organization by adding the Library window. Allowing you to organize assets in to collections so that you can easily find the ones you want during content creation!​

Get Smart Library on the Asset Store
​

Manual: Learn the ins and outs of Smart Library.
Discord: Chat, and get support quickly.

Collections reference assets in your project, since they are references, assets can be in multiple collections at the same time, and assets can be moved in the project browser without collections losing reference to them.

Have collections with all the assets for specific levels, ones with just the environment assets for those same levels, ones for specific enemy types, and ones for enemies for specific levels. A single enemy asset could be in 3 separate collections without any problem!

FEATURES​

• Asset Organization: Organize assets by reference in to multiple collections in the new Library window.
• Collections Tree: Collections can form a hierarchy and be reordered and parented to one another for further organization.
• Drag & Drop: Drag assets from collections in the library window to anywhere in your project just like the Project Browser.
• Rules: Collections have a list of rules which let you define conditions an asset must meet to be allowed in the collection.
  
• Collection Types: There are multiple types of collections to help you sort and organize assets quicker and more efficiently.
• Standard Collections: Manually curate the assets in the collect by drag & dropping assets in to the collection in the library window.
  
• Smart Collections: Fully automatic collection that finds assets in the project that match its rules, and removing assets from the collection that no longer do.
  
• Compound Collections: Sources its assets from other collections, and or its subcollections. Works great as a parent to multiple collections.
  
• Extensible API: Use the API to manipulate collections through code and create your own collections and rules to suit your project's needs.

WINDOW FEATURES​

• Enhanced Previews: Custom previews are generated for assets shown in the Library window with nicer lighting and higher resolution.
• Multiple Views: View assets in the Library window in either a grid or list view.
• Selection Independent: Selecting assets in the Library window shows them in the Inspector, but will not move the project browser, so you don't have to worry about losing your place.
• Fast Workflows: The Library has full keyboard support, multi-select, double-click to open an asset (or ping - preferences option).
• Find What You Want: The Library window has search and order for assets, and more human readable asset names, and small type icon for assets, all to find the asset you are wanting quicker and easier.
  
  

Limitations​

• It is editor only.
• Requires Unity 2020.3 or newer.
• When using Unity 2020.3 QuickSearch 3.0.0-preview or newer is required. Preview packages must be enable to be able to add it from the Package Manager.

 

Smart Library has been approved and is now live on the Asset Store!

It is 50% so get it while its hot!

Get Smart Library From the Asset Store!

 

Just picked this up and I'm really impressed! Great work. I'm excited to use it in the project I'm starting soon.

Is it possible to reimport a whole collection at once? Right now I can update them one by one if I right click, but this is impractical. I tried deleting the collection and creating a new one but it seemed to have cached the old image. This can be a problem when you are upgrading materials to be URP compatible

 

I really appreciate how you allow for two rows in thumbnail labels, and intelligently trim the middle of long names.

 

Thank you!

Do you mean reimport all of the assets in a collection at once? It is not currently possible, however I could add that! If you are a programmer, you can also add it through a static event in the

SmartLibraryWindow

class.

Yes, previews are cached globally to save on memory. Previews should automatically update when its asset updates. Is this not happening for you? If so can you tell me what Unity version you are on and what render pipeline?

I'm glad, it is definitely something that I wanted as a user too. So I am happy that others like it as well.

 

This looks very useful.

 

Hi @MechaWolf99 I would like to report a bug on Version 1.2.0 - December 23, 2021 on Unity3d 2020.3.26f1, QuickSearch Version 3.0.0-preview.22 - November 04, 2021 . When reopening my project, the smart library window looses the hierarchy root and stays locked to the last opened library. I couldn't find a way to go up to the library selection unless I close the window, reopen smart library and pin it again in the window layout.
2022-01-16_131536.png is current bug.

2022-01-16_132101.png is how it is expected to display


Thanks.

 

Hey, thank you for the detailed report! I am aware of the bug and hope to have a fix for it in the next release. Unfortunately it is a rather tricky bug to reproduce reliably which makes it hard to test both what is causing it and if a change has fixed it.
But I do plan to have a (hopeful)fix in the next release!
Thank you again for the report!

 

I'm struggling to install in 2020.3 LTS here. I enabled preview packages but it doesn't show up as an option at all.

Would it be worth distributing the 2020.3 version as a unitypackage within the regular build instead? this method seems messy.

 

Hello, are you not able to find the QuickSearch package? Here is a short gif of how to find and add it in 2020.3.

I'm not sure what you mean, QuickSearch is a package, so I cannot include it by default in the asset. Beyond the requirement of the package, the 2020.3 version of Smart Library is the same as the 2021.1 and newer version.

 

Thanks for the GIF, that helps a lot!
it works fine now.

 

Just released the 1.3.0 update!

Added previews for audio clips!
Improved preview lighting in HDRP!
Added per-collection default GameObject parents. Use the context menu in the hierarchy to set a GameObject as the default parent for the current collection. Any objects dragged from the collection will be added to the scene as children of the specified GameObject!

Also includes an important fix for the collections panel becoming not resizable.
(The full changelog can be seen on the Assetstore page)

You can get the update on the AssetStore!

 

How can I see thumbnails for mesh objects?

 

Hmm, you should be able to I think. What file format are they, what is their file extension?

 

They are .mesh files.

 

I see, looks like I missed that one, sorry abut that. I will add it in the next update and I plan on changing it so if no custom thumbnail is generated for the asset type, it will fallback to using the thumbnail that is generated by Unity that is used in the Project Browser.
That way if there is something like this again, you will still be able to see the unique thumbnails even if it isn't supported. This will also make it support ScriptableObjects that have custom previews!

 

The Smart Library 2.0.0 update is finally out!

The main change is that collections are now each saved to their own file outside of the assets folder. This should improve easy of use with version control systems.
Along with this, changes are saved right away instead of when the project saves.

A nice QoL feature is that there is now an option to have a collection have its own item display size and list/grid view to allow for more specialized collections.

It is also currently 50% off on the AssetStore!

 

The new 2.0.0 update also has mesh previews in it, sorry I missed them originally and thanks for letting me know about them! Also, if you would be willing, leaving a review on the store would help a lot

 

Just got this tool, I'm really interested in using it for my games because the project view is HELL
I will report back my opinions, Seems really amazing so far

 

Thanks for the update! Seems to work great with meshes now. I'll be sure to leave a review when I get chance.

 

I noticed that the skybox materials are quite different to the Project browser.

 

I see, I didn't realize skyboxs had different previews, thanks for letting me know.
I will try to get an update out early next week with nicer previews for skybox materials.

 

I've had this a few times when I first open Smart Library where it shows nothing and suggests that I didn't set it up correctly. Thankfully I can use the update in the bottom left to refresh it, but the first few times I believed the message and ended up clicking the cog to fix the problem.

Probably worth updating the error text if nothing else.

 

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
3. Parameter name: index
4. System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T].get_Item (System.Int32 index) (at <7b935204f5ff4bcab44b3b0ebca330bf>:0)
5. Bewildered.SmartLibrary.DefaultParentManager.OnGameObjectCreated (UnityEditor.CreateGameObjectHierarchyEventArgs data) (at Assets/ThirdParty/SmartLibrary/Editor/DefaultParentManager.cs:65)
6. Bewildered.SmartLibrary.DefaultParentManager.OnObjectChanged (UnityEditor.ObjectChangeEventStream& stream) (at Assets/ThirdParty/SmartLibrary/Editor/DefaultParentManager.cs:50)
7. UnityEditor.ObjectChangeEvents.InvokeChangeEvent (System.IntPtr events, System.Int32 eventsCount, System.IntPtr payLoad, System.Int32 payLoadLength) (at <db8aad8fcedd4e11ba6ba696cb8802a7>:0)
8.  
9. ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
10. Parameter name: index
11. System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T].get_Item (System.Int32 index) (at <7b935204f5ff4bcab44b3b0ebca330bf>:0)
12. Bewildered.SmartLibrary.DefaultParentManager.OnGameObjectCreated (UnityEditor.CreateGameObjectHierarchyEventArgs data) (at Assets/ThirdParty/SmartLibrary/Editor/DefaultParentManager.cs:65)
13. Bewildered.SmartLibrary.DefaultParentManager.OnObjectChanged (UnityEditor.ObjectChangeEventStream& stream) (at Assets/ThirdParty/SmartLibrary/Editor/DefaultParentManager.cs:50)
14. UnityEditor.ObjectChangeEvents.InvokeChangeEvent (System.IntPtr events, System.Int32 eventsCount, System.IntPtr payLoad, System.Int32 payLoadLength) (at <db8aad8fcedd4e11ba6ba696cb8802a7>:0)
15.  
16. ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
17. Parameter name: index
18. System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T].get_Item (System.Int32 index) (at <7b935204f5ff4bcab44b3b0ebca330bf>:0)
19. Bewildered.SmartLibrary.DefaultParentManager.OnGameObjectCreated (UnityEditor.CreateGameObjectHierarchyEventArgs data) (at Assets/ThirdParty/SmartLibrary/Editor/DefaultParentManager.cs:65)
20. Bewildered.SmartLibrary.DefaultParentManager.OnObjectChanged (UnityEditor.ObjectChangeEventStream& stream) (at Assets/ThirdParty/SmartLibrary/Editor/DefaultParentManager.cs:50)
21. UnityEditor.ObjectChangeEvents.InvokeChangeEvent (System.IntPtr events, System.Int32 eventsCount, System.IntPtr payLoad, System.Int32 payLoadLength) (at <db8aad8fcedd4e11ba6ba696cb8802a7>:0)
22.  
23.  
24.  

getting weird errors today every time I add a new gameobject to the scene, despite Smart Library not being open.

I had to delete Smart Library from the project.

 

I'm sorry that you are running in to this error. You definitely shouldn't be getting that. What Unity version are you on? If it is 2022, that version is not officially supported as it is still in beta. However I will get a fix for that out asap!

 

This is 2021.2.

I realised I was on 2.0.1. I updated to 2.0.2 and reinstalled Smart Library and it is behaving itself for now.

 

One feature request - is it possible to add more sorting options, such as date and filesize?

 

Oh good to hear! That bug should never of happened (read, not be possible), but in the next update I will add something so that if it does break somehow, it will do so gracefully and not prevent the hierarchy from being used.

 

Sorting, you mean how you can sort the order the assets are shown in by name or asset type? What would "data" be? Like sort ScriptableObjects by a variable, or a texture by format or something?

 

So sometimes when you open Unity, the smart collections are empty and have no items? If that is the case, that sounds like a bug to me. Do you notice any consistency about when it happens or for what collections? Are you able to also share a screenshot of the rules and folders that one of the smart collections use?

 

I think they meant date not data. Also if I make a collection which uses Unity's version control (plastic) then can this still be included for sharing? I'm not sure how much outside the assets folder Unity allows for their versioning. If we can choose the location it ought to be fine.

I haven't checked newer versions yet so could be premature.

 

Oh, you are right they most certainly wrote date but I read data, thanks haha.

In Smart Library 2.0.0+ collections are stored in

YourProject/SmartLibrarySettings/Collections

, so unless Plastic specifically only includes certain folders, it should be fine. I haven't used Plastic before so tried to look up how it works, but it was inconclusive as to if it would include outside folders or not.

 

Yes those would be very nice to have!

 

I opened Smart Library today and my Skyboxes showed as empty.
I did a refresh and it brought back my contents, but I had this error

Code (CSharp):

1. ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
2. Parameter name: index
3. System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T].get_Item (System.Int32 index) (at <7b935204f5ff4bcab44b3b0ebca330bf>:0)
4. Bewildered.SmartLibrary.DefaultParentManager.OnGameObjectCreated (UnityEditor.CreateGameObjectHierarchyEventArgs data) (at Assets/ThirdParty/SmartLibrary/Editor/DefaultParentManager.cs:65)
5. Bewildered.SmartLibrary.DefaultParentManager.OnObjectChanged (UnityEditor.ObjectChangeEventStream& stream) (at Assets/ThirdParty/SmartLibrary/Editor/DefaultParentManager.cs:50)
6. UnityEditor.ObjectChangeEvents.InvokeChangeEvent (System.IntPtr events, System.Int32 eventsCount, System.IntPtr payLoad, System.Int32 payLoadLength) (at <db8aad8fcedd4e11ba6ba696cb8802a7>:0)
7.  

I have the same problem with my sound effects folder, which is showing as empty again, despite there being plenty of items in that folder.


Refreshing the audio sfx category fixed everything without any errors.

 

What type of asset are those? What file extension? If they are just materials, what shader are they using?

 

Awesome package, was looking for some sort of asset collection system and this one rocks!

However, I have projects both on 2019 and 2020, I would love to be able to use this for 2019, any chance for it to be back ported? I'm aware it requires QuickSearch 3.0, but alas 2019 only provided 2.0.2. If not, no big deal, but just thought I would ask.

Also, first post on the unity forums.

 

Thank you very much!
If you have time, feel free to leave a review on the store as it helps a lot.

Unfortunately the QuickSearch 2.0.x package has a quite different API and a lot less powerful. There are also changes to UIToolkit which is what I use for most of the UI in Smart Library. In the end I decided to not support for these reasons. Plus the 2019.3 LTS is about to go out of support. But I totally get asking, you never know!

Oh, well I am honored that this is your first post!

 

Today's bug is weird, with 'no items' and a bunch of items.

 

How is it that you run in to several times as many bugs and issues as anyone else? Or maybe you are just the only one nice enough to tell me about them, haha. Either way I'm sorry you are running in to so many!
And I really do appreciate you reporting so many of these issues, so thank you!

Are you able to tell me anything about what happened? Was it right after Unity started up? Or after opening the window? Is it related to the other bug where you had to re-search for all of the assets?

Unrelated, but I see you have a lot of particle system prefabs, I was considering generating previews for GO's with particle systems and having the particles play part way through (50%?) to get an idea of what the the particle is. I haven't tested it yet, but does this sound useful for you?

 

@MechaWolf99 I can't tell you when it happened because I hop between several Unity projects a day, and Unity crashes enough that I restart Unity semi regularly too.


I would appreciate a particle thumbnail! Unity does generate thumbnails for the regular file browser but they are usually blank so basically useless. It's probably impossible to guess what percentage is ideal for particles time though, as many have a long tail. With the ones I've been using it is 20% total length or 1 second in, whichever is shorter.




I would appreciate an option to search only for the whole string of characters, perhaps with quotes around it. I was looking for footprint or footstep particles and having a lot annoying false positives.

 

@MechaWolf99, I'm using unity 2021.2.16f1 and version 2.0.3 of Smart Library, getting the zero error where it shows that no items are in the group. When I refresh on that item I get the null ref error.

I noticed that clicking on the properties of the affected collection has empty references. After further playing with it, it seems like the references get deleted and replaced with an empty. Something is clearing the items and possibly duplicating the empty ones.

In CompoundCollection.cs line 57, a null check can get rid of the error but doesn't fix where the items are being set to empty. Maybe have a rebuild command that rebuilds the entire collection and the references.

This is a great time saving tool though when working, keep up the good work.

 

Hey, sorry you are running in to issues I will look in to it. Is this only happening with CompoundCollections or all of them?

 

Yes, compound collections currently. A work around is to move all the child nodes to root then re-add them to the compound collection but it still has those dangling empty entries.

 

Trying a fresh install with Unity 2021.2.18 and getting lots of categories which are stuck on endless update spinning wheel. They can never unzero themselves. Unfortunately Smart Library is starting to be more of a liability than an aid.

I probably need to give up on using Smart Collections, as they haven't worked reliably in Unity 2021 for a while now.

Which version of Unity does Smart Library work reliably with?

 

I see, after investigating the issue a bit, it seems I have the same problem but some projects don't and after some more looking around I discovered it is a QuickSearch bug as it simply never 'completes' the search (if you try to use quick search to find something you should see that it searches infinitely as well).

I have reported the issue and will keep you updated. It is unfortunate that Smart Collections are not as stable as I would like or expect. Sadly there is little I can do as it is due to Unity's QuickSearch having problems and not so much because the Smart Collection code is faulty. Of course this doesn't change the end result of Smart Collections not working as expected, so in that regard I do apologies.

Smart Library should be equally stable on every version. I am working on an update that should make the whole thing more stable and fix a lot of small and one off bugs. Though of course it will do little in the way of Smart Collections since most of that is on QuickSearch side.

 

So an update, the QS guys are not sure what caused this either. Going to "Window/Search/Index Manger" and then clicking the "Build" button fixes the issue. But I will be keeping a looking to see if I can also figure out how to reproduce it so it can get fixed easier.

In general, if you have a problem with a Smart Collection not finding an asset, the most likely issue is that the search index either doesn't exist hasn't been updated properly so going and clicking that "Build" button should fix it most of the time. This is a QuickSearch thing and there isn't much I can do about it unfortunately.

 

Since the most recent update, the image preview in my Smart Library view has been dark to the point that I'm not able to distinguish different objects from each other (Unity 2021.2.19, HDRP). I'm not seeing a setting for this in the manual, am I overlooking something?

 

That's odd, nothing changed with the preview generation in the most recent update. Did you recently change Unity/HDRP versions? If so, Unity could have changed something internally which might be causing it.

Sorry you are running in to this issue, HDRP has been admittedly particularly hard to support as Unity does a lot of behind the scenes stuff when rendering in that pipeline.

Regardless, I will look in to it to see what might be cause the issue. What version of HDRP are you on specifically?

 

I haven't recently changed Unity or HDRP versions; I'm on HDRP 12.1.6 right now. I also just realized that this is not uniform across all icons—a lot of them have grey backgrounds and are still well-lit, it's only those with black backgrounds are that dim now.

Image below is an example—I'm almost positive that this was not the case before I updated Smart Library yesterday, but it's not something I was actively keeping track of ofc.

 

Hmmm, what version were you on prior to the update do you remember?