GW’s Personal ProBuilder 6 Video Tutorials

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Scene View Overlays Setup

This step is optional, but highly recommended for getting started and following the tutorials

1. Click in the Scene View to ensure this window is focused
2. Hit the ~ (tilde) key on your keyboard to open the Scene View Overlays menu (or, right-click on the Scene tab and choose “Overlay Menu”)
3. In the list of overlays, turn off everything except “Tools” and “Tool Settings”
4. Click-drag on the gripper of each overlay to move them into the view, as floating overlays
5. Right-click on the gripper of each overlay and choose “Panel”, to show their full detail (vs slim toolbar display)
6. Drag the Tools Overlay to the top left of the view
7. Drag the Tool Settings Overlay just below it
8. Re-open the Overlay Menu as described in step 2, click the “Default” drop-down, and choose “Save Preset” – this way you can always quickly revert to this preset, create others, etc.

These are the only 2 overlays you’ll need for using ProBuilder 6, so this keeps the view nice and clean to start learning the toolset. Also, it’s just good to know how to use the Overlay functionality!

Installing ProBuilder 6

1. Click “Window > Package Manager” to open the Package Manager
2. In the Package Manager, click on “Unity Registry”, then type “ProBuilder” in the search box
3. Select “ProBuilder” when it shows, then click the “Install” button to the right

Basic ProBuilder 6 Usage

• From the Tools Overlay, click the “Create Shape” tool to draw new shapes into the Scene. Click-hold the tool button to choose different shapes, and use the Shape Settings overlay to set specific values.
• With a ProBuilder object selected, view the Tools Overlay and click the “Edit” button (first button, orange icon) to activate the ProBuilder Edit Mode. Now, you can select and manipulate vertices, edges and faces.
• View the Tool Settings Overlay to find options like vertex, edge, and face selection, hidden selection, handle orientation, and other ProBuilder-specific options
• Select an element (eg, a face) and right click to view available actions like Bevel, Extrude, etc. Use the pop-up Overlay that appears, to choose any specific options for the action. Click “Confirm” or “Cancel”, or simply keep working to auto-complete the action.
• Hit ESC or click the the Edit Mode icon (same as before, orange icon first in the Tools Overlay) to exit ProBuilder Edit Mode. Now you can select and modify GameObjects as usual.
• More features are available in the “Tools > ProBuilder > ProBuilder Editors … ” panels. However, these haven’t been upgraded to the new UX yet, and are … not great. I’ll have some basic tutorials for these below, but any older tutorials you find on the net will probably still match.

Customizing and Shortcuts

ProBuilder has many customization options, use these to make it work best for you:

• From the top menu, choose “Edit > Preferences”, then choose the “ProBuilder” category, to view and modify all sorts of options.
• From the top menu, choose “Edit > Shortcuts”, then choose the “ProBuilder” category, to view and modify all ProBuilder-related shortcuts.
• Pro tip – you might also want to modify Unity’s general Scene View and Overlay related shortcuts, there are tons of options available to speed up your workflow!

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Creating Your First Shape

1. View the Tools Overlay
2. At the far right of the Tools Overlay, you can find all Creation tools (from any package, including ProBuilder, Splines, etc)
3. Click the “Create Cube” button to activate this tool
4. Click-drag in the scene view to set the bottom of the cube
5. Move your mouse up and click a final time to set the height of the cube
6. After drawing the shape, you can set exact values using the Shape Settings Overlay
7. Click-drag again in the world to continue creating more shapes, or hit ESC to exit this tool

Creating Other Shape Types

1. View the “Create Cube” tool button
2. See that arrow on the bottom-right corner? New in Unity 6, this means a tool has several “versions” you can choose from (just like Photoshop, Blender, etc)
3. Click-hold on the button to see the available options
4. Choose a different Shape Type – maybe the Stairs, Cylinder, or Arch … who knows!
5. Draw out the shape just as usual, setting the bottom then the height

Setting Shape Values (Parametric Editing)

1. Select a ProBuilder Shape
2. View the Tools Overlay – this will show all usable tools for your selected object
3. One of the Component Tools will be “Edit Shape” – activate this one
4. Click-drag the blue center dot handles to adjust the volume
5. Click the blue arrow handles to rotate the shape within its volume
6. Modify values in the Shape Settings Overlay to set exact sizes and other shape-specific values

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Activating ProBuilder Edit Mode

1. Select the ProBuilder object you want to edit
2. View the Tools Overlay – the first button should now have an orange icon, this tells you the object has an Edit Mode – click it to activate ProBuilder Editing
3. Now, you can use selection, tools, and actions on the ProBuilder elements (vert, edge, face)

Selecting Verts, Edges and Faces

1. In the ProBuilder Edit Mode, view the Tools Overlay
2. Here, you can find all the options for your current tool, including the ability to choose between selecting Verts, Edges, or Faces – just click to enable the one you want
3. Now, use standard selection methods to select these in the view – click, rect-select, and shift/ctrl modifiers
4. To manipulate the elements, use the same tools as usual – move, rotate, scale. You can click in the Tools Overlay to activate these, or use your usual shortcut keys.
5. Draw out the shape just as usual, setting the bottom then the height

Using the Standard Tools (Move, Rotate, Scale)

1. Select a ProBuilder Shape
2. View the Tools Overlay – this will show all usable tools for your selected object
3. One of the Component Tools will be “Edit Shape” – activate this one
4. Click-drag the blue center dot handles to adjust the volume
5. Click the blue arrow handles to rotate the shape within its volume
6. Modify values in the Shape Settings Overlay to set exact sizes and other shape-specific values

Quick Extrude and Inset

1. Select a Face
2. Hold the SHIFT key
3. Use the Move tool on this face to Extrude it, or the Scale tool to inset it

You can also use this on open edges.

Handle Coordinates

ProBuilder provides an extra Handle Coordinate mode, “Element”. This will make the Move, Rotate, and Scale tools use the selected Face’s orientation. If that doesn’t make any sense … check the video, or try it out, it’ll make sense quickly 🙂

1. Select a face that is angled
2. In the Tool Settings Overlay, click the Handle Coordinates dropdown (it probably says “Local” or “Global” right now), and choose “Element”
3. Activate the Move tool
4. View the tool handles on the selected face – see how the blue (Z) arrow is now extending directly out from the face?

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Using the Cut Tool

1. Activate ProBuilder Edit Mode on a ProBuiler Object
2. View the Tools Overlay – you should now see the Cut Tool available
3. Click and activate the Cut Tool
4. Hover on a Vertex, Face, or Edge – it will highlight to indicate where you will begin cutting. If hovering on an edge or Vertex, pay close attention to the also-highlighted Face – the Cut Tool will only be able to cut from the vertex/edge, to this face. Sorry, it’s kinda basic for now.
5. Click to start your cut, then continue clicking to places more points
6. Click “Confirm” or “Cancel” in the pop-up overlay, or use the keyboard shortcuts: Enter to confirm, ESC to cancel.

As noted in the video, do be careful with the crazy n-gons this tool can help you create. They are useful, totally fine, but … easy to cause trouble if you aren’t careful.

Using Actions

1. In the ProBuilder Edit Mode, all specialized actions (Chamfer, Connect Edges, etc) are available in the right-click menu (just like Blender)
2. Use the Tool Settings overlay to select the Element mode you’d like to use (vert, edge, face)
3. Select the elements to use an action on
4. Right-click anywhere in the view (does not need to be on the element, and does not matter if you right-click on something else – only the selected elements are used)
5. Choose an action from list to use it
6. Most actions will have options – for example, the distance for Extrude, or submesh vs new mesh for Detach
7. When you use an action, the Action Options Overlay will appear, showing those options
8. You can modify the options here, with a very useful live preview, then click “Confirm” or “Cancel”
9. Or, simply continue working (do any other action) and the default (shown) action options will be used, and the overlay will disappear

Vertex Actions

Select

• Select All – Selects all Vertices on this mesh
• Deselect – Deselects all Vertices
• Invert – Changes selection to only the non-selected Vertices

ProBuilder Select

• Shrink Selection – Shrinks the selection inward, with options for incremental or angle-based
• Select Hole – Selects all open Edges’ Vertices connected to the selected Vertices
• Select Vertex Color – Selects all Vertices with the same Vertex Color as the currently selected Vertices, with options for on this mesh or all meshes
• Grow Selection – Grows the selection outward from the selected Vertices, with options for incremental or angle-based

Geometry

• Offset Elements – Moves the selected elements a set distances, using a chosen direction
• Set Pivot to Selection – Moves the object’s pivot to the center of the selected elements
• Collapse Vertices – Collapses all selected Vertices to a single Vertex, with option to use center of selection or a specific Vertex point
• Weld Vertices – For all selected Vertices, collapse together any that are within a certain distance of each other
• Connect Vertices – Draw a new Edge between the selected Vertices
• Fill Hole – Fills in a new Face, where the selected Vertices have open Edges
• Split Vertices – Split the selected Vertices into a new Vertex per-Edge

Edge Actions

Select

• Select All – Selects all Edges on this mesh
• Deselect – Deselects all Edges
• Invert – Changes selection to only the non-selected Edges

ProBuilder Select

• Select Edge Loop – starting from the selected Edge, attempts to select a “Loop” of Edges
• Select Edge Ring – starting from the selected Edge, attempts to select a “Ring” of Edges
• Shrink Selection – Shrinks the selection inward, with options for incremental or angle-based
• Select Hole – Selects all open Edges connected to the selected Edge
• Select Vertex Color – Selects all Edges with the same Vertex Color as the currently selected Edges, with options for on this mesh or all meshes
• Grow Selection – Grows the selection outward from the selected Edges, with options for incremental or angle-based

Geometry

• Extrude Edges – Extrudes the selected Edges a set distance and chosen direction
• Connect Edges – Draws a new Edge between the two selected Edges, if possible
• Bevel Edges – Split and face-fill the selected Edges
• Bridge Edges – Fills in a new Face between the selected Edges, if possible
• Offset Elements – Moves the selected elements a set distances, using a chosen direction
• Set Pivot to Selection – Moves the object’s pivot to the center of the selected elements
• Fill Hole – Fills in a new Face, where the selected Edges are open
• Insert Edge Loop – Attempts a “Ring Selection” action and then a “Connect Edges” action across the ring-selected Edges
• Subdivide Edges – Divides all selected Edges in the middle (adding a single new vertex to each Edge)

Face Actions

Select

• Select All – Selects all Faces on this mesh
• Deselect – Deselects all Faces
• Invert – Changes selection to only the non-selected Faces

ProBuilder Select

• Select Face Loop – starting from the selected Face, attempts to select a “Loop” of faces
• Select Face Ring – starting from the selected Face, attempts to select a “Ring” of faces
• Shrink Selection – Shrinks the selection inward, with options for incremental or angle-based
• Select Vertex Color – Selects all Faces with the same Vertex Color as the currently selected Face, with options for on this mesh or all meshes
• Select Material – Selects all Faces with the same Material as the currently selected Face, with options for on this mesh or all meshes
• Grow Selection – Grows the selection outward from the selected Faces, with options for incremental or angle-based

Geometry

• Bevel Edges – Split and fill all the Edges on the selected Faces
• Triangulate Faces – Set all tri edges to hard, individual Edges on the selected Faces
• Subdivide Faces – Evenly divide the selected Faces
• Merge Faces – Merge the selected Faces into a single Face, generally forming a smoothed n-gon
• Flip Face Normals – Flip just the selected Face’s normals
• Flip Face Edge – Flip the tri edge on the selected Quad
• Conform Face Normals – Attempt to set all selected faces to have the same general “inside, outside” directions
• Detach Faces – Breaks the selected Faces from their connected edges, either to a new mesh or within this mesh
• Duplicate Faces – Duplicates the selected Faces, keeping them within this mesh
• Delete Faces – Deletes the selected Faces
• Offset Elements – Moves the selected elements a set distances, using a chosen direction
• Set Pivot to Selection – Moves the object’s pivot to the center of the selected elements
• Extrude Faces – Extrude the selected faces a set distance, using a chosen direction.

Object Actions

• Conform Normals – ProBuilder will try to set all faces on this object to the same “outward vs inward” normals. Useful if you have somehow flipped a few faces and need to get them back to matching the rest.
• Export – Allows you to export the selected object(s) as OBJ, PLY, and a few other formats. Useful for bringing your prototype mesh over to Blender, Zbrush, etc for further work.
• Triangulate – Sets hard, visible edges for every tri in the mesh (eg, cuts up n-gons visibly). This is really just for looks, to create a faceted art style – meshes are always built on tris in Unity.
• Center Pivot – Moves the object’s pivot to it’s center.
• Subdivide Object – Divides every face on the mesh equally.
• Flip Normals – Inverts all face normals. Very useful for making indoor levels.
• Mirror Objects – Flips the entire object as if seen through a mirror – can create a duplicate, or affect the original.
• Merge Objects – Merges the selected objects into a single object.
• Freeze Transform – Without visually affecting the mesh, moves the pivot to World Origin (0,0,0), sets its rotation to (0,0,0), and sets its scale to (1,1,1). Same as “Apply Transform” in Blender, and we should really change the name to this …
• Set Trigger – Use this on objects that you want to be invisible “trigger zones” in-game. They will be visible in the Editor (bright orange), but invisible in your game.
• Set Collider – Use this on objects you want to be invisible colliders in-game. They will be visible (bright green) in the Editor, but invisible in-game.

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FIRST – Use the Right Shader/Material

Unity’s default materials will not show Vertex Colors on meshes. To ensure you see the results of your vertex coloring, use a “Vertex Color Enabled” shader. If that’s confusing, just do the following:

1. Create a new Material, or select the Material you wish to use (any kind will do)
2. At the top of the Material Inspector, click the Shader drop-down menu
3. Choose “ProBuilder > Standard Vertex Color”

This is the ProBuilder default shader, which will always work with vertex colors. You can remove the grid texture it applies, and apply any other texture you prefer (this will only affect the selected material).

Or, you can create your own vertex color shader, I recommend looking for Shader Graph tutorials.

Opening the Vertex Color Editor Panel

1. From the top menu, choose “Tools > ProBuilder > Editors > Vertex Color Editor”
2. This will open the panel to apply Vertex Colors

The UI

• The “Apply” button will apply the row’s color to the selected elements
• The color swatch button will change the color in this row (will not affect element selection)
• The “Pick” button will allow you to click anywhere to pick a color, which will be set for the row
• You can build and save multiple Color Palettes, very useful for keeping level design consistent!

Applying Vertex Colors

Select any elements, then click “Apply” next to the desired color.

• Vertices – the color will blend outward from the selected Vertices
• Edge – the color will blend outward from the selected Edges
• Face – the color will only affect the selected Faces, no blending

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Whoooo-eeee this is a messy one

Quite frankly, ProBuilder’s texturing solutions are crazy old and buggy. But … they can be very useful and reliable if used carefully and without complex intent. Yeah, I also really hope we can update this soon …

Applying Materials

• Drag-drop a material onto a ProBuilder object, nothing special – this will apply the material to the entire object
• Activate ProBuilder Edit Mode and select some Faces, then drag-drop a material to these – this will apply the material to just those Faces, neat! Continue to apply more materials as needed.

Keeping it Simple

By default, all faces on a ProBuilder object use “Auto UVs”. This means that as you edit the object, the applied materials will generally look fine … they’ll tile (repeat) across the surface, won’t stretch or shrink, and can be easily controlled with a few basic parameters.

• Tiling, on the Material: if all you need to do is make a texture appear larger everywhere, use the “Tiling” value in the Material’s inspector. No actual ProBuilder UV Editor required, just that.
• Tiling, Rotation, and Offset, per-Face: if you want control the size, rotation, and position of the texture on certain areas/faces, you’ll need to use open and use the UV Editor.

Opening the UV Editor

1. Save your Scene 😅
2. From the top menu, choose “Tools > ProBuilder > Editors > UV Editor Window”
3. This will open a big, messy window with lots going on. Don’t worry, we’re going to learn just the important stuff.

Auto UVs – Modify Tiling, Rotation, and Offset

1. In the Scene View, select the faces you want to work with
2. In the UV Editor, view the “Actions” panel
3. Ensure the heading says “Auto UVs” – if not, click the button that says “Convert to Auto”
4. View and modify the items labeled “Tiling”, “Offset”, and “Rotation”, by typing specific values, or using the Tools and Handles shown in the UV Editor
5. Optionally, you can click the “Edit in Scene” toggle (top center of UV Editor Toolbar, 3 arrows), to enable in-scene handles

Manual UVs – Unwrapping

1. In the Scene View, select the faces you want to work with
2. In the UV Editor, view the “Actions” panel
3. Ensure the heading says “Manual UVs” – if not, click the button that says “Convert to Manual”

The actions here are honestly pretty complex, the video above should really help, I recommend watching it to get the basics and then learn further.

Additionally, since the UV Editor really hasn’t changed for a long time, any of the standard ProBuilder UV Editing documentation and tutorials are very helpful, here are a few good links:

Official ProBuilder 6 Documentation

Other (old) Useful Videos: