Prefab Creation Question

Unity Engine
1

Hi guys Ive read the manual and watched some tutorials and also tried searching the forums.
I’m still a little fuzzy on when an when not to create a prefab from a model in unity?

Lets say I have a room created from 3 models walltexture, floortexture and cealingtexture, and 2 barrel types one with a rigid body for physics, and one just static, both types i plan to use more in different rooms

I drag my room in and position it and put materials on, leave this alone?
static barrel with materials drag in and ctrl D to make some more, create prefab or not?
barrel with physics, materials… because i add a rigid body to this i should create prefab?

If i don’t add anything to the imported model should i still create prefab
does unity automatically make things into prefabs ever?

thanks in advance

2

I think you should prefab the barrels. It makes reusing them between levels and projects much easier. In general, anything that is going to be made multiple times and across levels or projects should be a prefab. There are not set rules on this, but a one-off item is probably not going to be a prefab and multi-use items probably should be.

3

hmm, It seems like unity made some of my objects into prefabs since some are listed as blue and I haven’t created a prefab and dragged the models into it at all yet?

Also another question is on a model for normals. when i have a flat surface should i “clear all” normals or “auto smooth” to 1 degree (max)
or in other words do all triangles need a normal/smoothing group assigned?