Overview
Tile+Painter (Painter) is a different sort of Tilemap painting and editing tool.
Download the TilePlusPainter_QuickGuide.pdf and print it out if you like!
Just like the Unity Tilemap Editor (UTE) you can paint single tiles or groups of tiles from a Palette. Unlike the UTE, you can paint Prefabs, custom single- or multiple-Tilemap archives and perform complex transform modifications. There’s even a persistent Favorites list.
Painter is an UIElements-based editor window with three modes: Paint, Edit, and Grid.
Painting
In Paint mode, Painter presents lists of Tilemaps, and lists of Sources (including Unity Palettes, archived Tilemaps, and a Favorites List) rather than a Palette and Brushes. Select a map in the left column’s list and a source in the center column’s list, then a third list in the rightmost column presents the Objects (as in UnityEngine.Object) available to paint. Paintable Objects include tiles, tile Bundles, TileFabs, Prefabs, and Multiple-Selection “Picks.”
For Unity Palettes, the rightmost column can show the same display as the UTE.
| Center Column Sources | What’s displayed | What’s painted on a Tilemap. |
|---|---|---|
| Unity Palette | A list of tiles or a standard Unity Tilemap Editor (UTE) view. | Single tiles or a selection from the Palette. |
| TileFab | Information about the TileFab | All the tiles and Prefabs from the TileFab on one or more Tilemaps. |
| Bundle | Information about the Bundle | All the tiles and Prefabs from the Bundle on one Tilemap. |
| A list of tiles and Prefabs contained in the Bundle | Individual tiles and Prefabs | |
| Favorites | A list of tiles, Prefabs, Picks or Bundles. | Individual tiles and Prefabs or groups of tiles from Picks or Bundles. |
Painter also supports selection of groups of tiles called “Picks” which are selections of tiles from within the Scene view or on a displayed Palette when the UTE is visible in Painter.
- Picks can be saved as Favorites or transformed into Bundles.
- Picks can be flipped and rotated as a group or as individual tiles (or both).
Edit
Edit mode is used to edit individual tiles.
- Click on a Tilemap in the leftmost list and the center list displays all the tiles on that Tilemap.
- Click on an individual tile, or Pick one from the scene, and you can edit it.
- Multiple-select several TilePlus tiles of the same Type from the center list.
- A special tool appears that lets you edit fields and overwrite those in the selected tiles.
Grid
Grid mode comprises utilities for creating, managing, viewing, and using Grid Selections in various ways.
Painting Sources
If you have existing Palettes, Painter can use those as sources of tiles to Paint, viewable as a list of tiles or as a Palette just like in the UTE.
You can also poke tiles, Prefabs, or Bundles into the Favorites List by context-clicking on a tile Asset, Prefab asset, or TpTileBundle asset in a Project Folder.
Since Painter is based on the Tile+Toolkit, you can paint ‘Tilemap Archives’ (formally known as TileFab and Bundle assets) just as easily as any single tile. Bundles’ archived tiles and Prefabs can be painted individually as well. The TilePlus User Guide explains how to create these special assets right within your scene, but you can also create Bundles in various ways using Painter.
Please read the FAQ at the end of this document, it may answer questions that you have.
Tile+Painter Tool
This appears in the Unity toolbar when a Tilemap is selected. If you click on the toolbar button the Painter window will open if it isn’t already open. It functions similarly to the Tile Palette toolbar button which will also appear when a Tilemap is selected. You don’t need to use it if you don’t want to.