Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1-28. Completing the Rename operation
Tip #10: Showing Empty Objects in the Editor
Empty objects are very useful, as we'll see throughout later chapters. They serve a similar function
to Dummies (or Dummy objects) in 3D software. An Empty is simply a GameObject that has no
renderable components. There's nothing about an Empty that allows it to be seen, and so the player
never knows that they're there. That's part of why they are useful. Their lack of visibility makes them
great for marking respawn points in the scene, or for acting as pivot points (a point around which
other objects revolve), or marking out regions in the level. However, despite their usefulness in-game,
Empty objects come with a drawback for the developer when working with them in the Scene Editor.
The problem is that Empty objects are only visible in the scene when they're selected. When selected,
you can see the object's Transform gizmo (as shown in Figure 1-29 ). That helps you to know where
the object is. But when deselected, you can't see the object anymore—you can't even select it again
with your mouse because there's nothing visible to select. To reselect the Empty, you'll need to click
its name in the Hierarchy panel. This can be a tedious workflow. But thankfully, there's a solution. That
is, there's a way to show an Empty game object in the viewport without also making it visible to the
gamer at runtime.
 
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