NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Unity Engine
1

Hello folks!

I’ve searched lots of similar cases, but unfortunately none of the solutions would seem to help me.

Well, all I want to do is instantiate a smoke effect prefab when my object is colliding with a trigger wall, so I wrote this:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class pickStarController : MonoBehaviour {

    public SpriteRenderer smokeEffect; //The Prefab

    void OnTriggerEnter(Collider other){
        if (other.gameObject.tag == "WallBounds") {
            SpriteRenderer smokeColor = Instantiate(smokeEffect, this.transform.position, Quaternion.Euler (new Vector3(0, 0, 90))) as SpriteRenderer;
            smokeColor.color = Color.red;   
        }
    }
}

As you can see, I’m trying to instantiate as a SpriteRenderer type so I can change the color of the object after instantiated, but I’m getting this error after the object is created ingame:

So you guys are my last hope, because I don’t want to have to create and attach a new script to the prefab, since I can quickly edit it right after the instantiate process…
Thank you very much for your attention and help.

2

I believe you need to instantiate the object as a gameObject then get its component like this:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
public class pickStarController : MonoBehaviour {
    public GameObject smokeEffect; //The Prefab
    void OnTriggerEnter(Collider other){
        if (other.gameObject.tag == "WallBounds") {
            GameObject smokeColor = Instantiate(smokeEffect, this.transform.position, Quaternion.Euler (new Vector3(0, 0, 90))) as GameObject;
            smokeColor.GetComponent<SpriteRenderer>().color = Color.red;
        }
    }
}
3

I already tried, I still get the message =/