Assigning meshes materials from Assets, how?

Unity Engine
1

I know this must be plainly simple, but still it eludes me:

I want to create a mesh and/or material (in an Editor script), and I want to assign a mesh from my assets. Not necessarily in Resources folder mind you, just some random asset.

something like:

gameObject.GetComponent(MeshFilter).sharedMesh = ?LoadAsset? (“big_gun_mesh”);

Is this possible?

2

You can use the AssetDatabase class for things like this (you most likely want the LoadAssetAtPath function).

3

I got something working (I should take up dentistry, cuz this was like pulling teeth):

GameObject newGO= (GameObject)EditorUtility.InstantiatePrefab(AssetDatabase.LoadMainAssetAtPath (modelPath+“/”+oldTransform.name+“.dae”));

Assumes a path and file type. InstaniatePrefab will instantiate a model, despite its name.

I’d still rather not have to use a file path if possible, but at least this gets me moving again.