Show and Hide a prefab or GameObject

Questions & Answers
1

Hi,

Does anyone have a script to show or hide a prefab (or game object) on a key press?

The prefab contains multiple objects which should all be shown or hidden at once.

thanks

david

2

You can't show/hide a prefab as such, because a prefab is like a "template" of an object which could exist in your scene. You probably want to hide/show a gameobject (which might or might not be an instance of a prefab).

Do do this, you set the GameObject's renderer.enabled property to either true or false, like this:

function Update() {

    if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Z)) {
        // show
        renderer.enabled = true;
    }

    if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.X)) {
        // hide
        renderer.enabled = false;
    }
}

or, to toggle the visibility on and off with a single keypress:

function Update() {

    if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Z)) {
        // toggle visibility:
        renderer.enabled = !renderer.enabled;
    }
}

If you need to change the visibility of a GameObject and its children, you can loop through every object and change each one, like this:

function Update() {
    if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Z)) {
        ToggleVisibility();
    }
}

function ToggleVisibility() {
    // toggles the visibility of this gameobject and all it's children
    var renderers = gameObject.GetComponentsInChildren.<Renderer>();
    for (var r : Renderer in renderers) {
        r.enabled = !r.enabled;
    }
}

(moved the toggling code to a separate function, which is often a good idea once any particular section of code starts growing significantly in size)

7

For Unity 5, you access game object’s rendered component with this syntax:

gameObject.GetComponent().enabled = false;

So the above answer would be:

function Update() {

 if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Z)) {
     // show
     // renderer.enabled = true;
     gameObject.GetComponent<Renderer>().enabled = true;
 }
 
 if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.X)) {
     // hide
     // renderer.enabled = false;
     gameObject.GetComponent<Renderer>().enabled = false;
 }
}
3

Whit C# to disable Textures I use this code:

public void ChangeMenuActivity(bool state)
{
    ToggleVisibility(gameObject.transform, state);
}

void ToggleVisibility(Transform obj, bool state)
{
    for (int i = 0; i < obj.GetChildCount(); i++)
    {
        if (obj.GetChild(i).guiTexture != null)
            obj.GetChild(i).guiTexture.enabled = state;
        if (obj.GetChild(i).guiText != null)
            obj.GetChild(i).guiText.enabled = state;
        
        if (obj.GetChild(i).GetChildCount() > 0)
        {
            ToggleVisibility(obj.GetChild(i), state);
        }
    }
}
4

Tambien se puede hacer de la siguiente forma:

using System.Reflection;

void OcultarPadreHijos(object objGO)
{

 PropertyInfo Propiedad= objGO.GetType().GetProperty("enabled");

 Propiedad.SetValue(objGO,false,null);

}

Si quieres ocultar a sus componentes hijos, solo mandas a llamar a la función por cada hijo

5

Hey I know this is a pretty old thread, but I was hoping someone might have a bit of insight into a problem I’m having with this code (the last Toggle example) I am very new to Unity and am probably missing something obvious. I saved this as a script and childed it to the object (platforms) which I want to toggle:

But keep getting this error: Assets/Scripts/platforms_o_off.js(19,55): BCE0043: Unexpected token: …

#pragma strict

function Start () {

}

function Update () {


if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Z)) {
        ToggleVisibility();
    }

}


function ToggleVisibility() {
    // toggles the visibility of this gameobject and all it's children
    var renderers = gameObject.GetComponentsInChildren.(platforms);
    for (var r : Renderer in renderers) {
        r.enabled = !r.enabled;
    }
}
6

Seems to be the only correct answer around, I will check it, but at least from reading the code what I guest It will work. Thanks a lot

8

This can be useful for someone.
Hide / Show UI objects for example Menu.

public void ChangeMenuActivity(bool state) {
	ToggleVisibility(gameObject.transform, state);
}

private void ToggleVisibility(Transform obj, bool state) {
	Image img = obj.GetComponent<Image>();
	if (img != null)
		img.enabled = state;
	Text txt = obj.GetComponent<Text>();
	if (txt != null)
		txt.enabled = state;			
	foreach (Transform tr in obj) 
		ToggleVisibility(tr, state);		
}
9

For Unity 5: You could also use the SetActive(bool) function

(name of Gameobject reference).SetActive(false);

for example:

car1.SetActive(false);

10

For CanvasRenderer you can use SetAlpha method, that worked for me fine.

hide:

gameObject.GetComponent().SetAlpha(0f);

show:

gameObject.GetComponent().SetAlpha(1f);
11

perhaps toggle visibility is the best way to go but I just turn off the object.
YourGameObject.SetActive (false); and then YourGameObject.SetActive (true);
doing it this way can lead to errors if you have a script still active referencing that gameobject, Like if a I enter a triggerzone that would normally effect that now inactive gameobject. But i simply add to that script " if (YourGameObject.activeInHierarchy == true)" . full example below

void OnTriggerEnter(Collider other) {
		if(other.tag == "Player")
		{
 if (YourGameObject.activeInHierarchy == true)
{

			animation.Play ("whatever");
			
		}
	}
12

You could just move it off screen or scale it. I find this works for complex gameobjects.

private Vector3 invisible = new Vector3(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
private Vector3 visible = new Vector3(0.48f, 0.48f, 0f);

        private void Start(){
            SelectedPanel = GameObject.Find("ToolTipUnit"); 
            SelectedPanel.transform.localScale = invisible; 
        }