How do I lock an object from selection

Question

In other programs like Photoshop, After Effects, 3dsmax, Maya you can lock objects or layers so you don't select them by error when working in the viewport. I want to lock my background in my 2D game.

I have tried a temporal solution to turn off the Mesh renderer from the object. (but is not exactly a lock from selection since I can't view it anymore).

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by Magrippinho · Feb 11, 2014 at 07:48 PM

You've probably noticed by now, but Unity 4.3, released a couple of months after your question, added native Layer locking functionality!

The layers dropdown on the editor's toolbar (upper right) now has the familiar "layer visibility" and "layer lock" icons.

unitylayerlock.png (45.3 kB)

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yoyo · Apr 01, 2015 at 04:12 PM 0

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This is a great solution to avoid accidental selection in the Scene view, but note that it doesn't prevent selection and editing from the Hierarchy panel.

TharosTheDragon · Sep 25, 2017 at 01:27 AM 1

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It's an imperfect solution because it only lets you lock by layer and not by object.

shieldgenerator7 · Nov 28, 2018 at 02:50 AM 0

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Thanks! This was exactly what I was looking for. However, it doesn't make much sense without the picture because I didn't even know that "Layers" button was up there until now.

walrys · May 08, 2019 at 09:48 AM 0

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I know this is an old thread, but does anyone know how to toggle layers programmatically? I'm looking for an editor script to do this

PixelFireXY walrys · Apr 05, 2020 at 01:39 PM 0

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What you were looking for is probably this: https://answers.unity.com/questions/760533/best-way-to-set-a-gameobject-layer-programmaticall.html

SmallLion · Dec 07, 2020 at 02:12 PM 0

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Thank you very much

Answer 2

Answer by SolidAlloy · May 24, 2020 at 01:34 PM

There is a way to make a single object unselectable in Unity 2019.3 and newer. There is a hand icon to the left of an object in the hierarchy window. Clicking it toggles between blocking and allowing to select the object on the scene. More info at the following link, in the "Setting GameObject visibility and pickability section": https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Hierarchy.html

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realbambiiyt · Aug 08, 2020 at 03:51 AM 1

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Thank you very much!

Gerark87 · Aug 11, 2020 at 06:20 PM 3

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This is definetely a better answer with the newest version of the editor.

Lttldude · Dec 05, 2020 at 05:08 AM 0

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Great solution, thank you.

Kaldrin · Feb 09, 2021 at 03:10 PM 0

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This is what I was looking for but while this is great, it doesn't persist after restarting the project :/

Answer 3

Answer by CarlLee · Mar 12, 2021 at 03:08 AM

It's been a long time since the question has been asked. Just in case someone is still interested, there is a way to make object unselectable via click in scene. Simply add a pass with tag "LightMode" = "Picking" in your shader and discard its result instead of returning the correct _SelectionID. This is how Unity picks objects on screen fast.

     Pass
     {
         Name "Picking"
         Tags { "LightMode" = "Picking" }

         CGPROGRAM
             #pragma vertex vert
             #pragma fragment frag
             #pragma multi_compile_instancing
             #pragma instancing_options assumeuniformscaling nomatrices nolightprobe nolightmap
             #include "UnityCG.cginc"

             float4 vert(appdata_full v) : SV_POSITION
             {
                 UNITY_SETUP_INSTANCE_ID(v);
                 float4 worldPos = mul(unity_ObjectToWorld, v.vertex);
                 return mul(UNITY_MATRIX_VP, worldPos);
             }

             uniform float4 _SelectionID;

             fixed4 frag() : SV_Target
             {
                 return _SelectionID;
             }
         ENDCG
     }

Add this pass to your shader, your object will be unselectable in SceneView, but still selectable in hierarchy window.

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Bunny83 · Mar 12, 2021 at 11:22 AM 0

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That's actually a neat hacky solution. Until now I haven't really thought about how Unity does the object picking. However, does this also prevent selection through a selection rectangle? It not it's a half baked solution.

Kaldrin · Mar 12, 2021 at 12:43 PM 0

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Thank you I am very interested but I'm not quite sure I understand this solution, on which shader should we add this pass ?

Answer 4

Answer by itos · Sep 04, 2013 at 09:31 PM

To answer my own question: I found an utility in the Unity Asset Store that does exactly what I want. You can lock objects so you can't edit them and also configure it in the preferences so you can't select them in the viewport. Also is free so anyone can use it. (I'm not affiliated or know the person that made the plugin).

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Answer 5

Answer by FrimaMickD · Sep 04, 2013 at 09:07 PM

There is no built-in way to do this in Unity (or at least I'm not aware of it!) but you could always script it quite easily. Here is a link to another question that pretty much solve the same thing : http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/29346/lock-object-position-in-editor.html

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How do I lock an object from selection

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