What Is A Procedural Prefab?
A procedural prefab is an imported Unity asset that rebuilds a generated hierarchy from an OctoShaper graph and a serialized configuration. Instead of keeping the generation logic only on a scene component, you can package the result as a reusable asset-backed workflow. If you want the component-driven version of the same idea, see Runtime Generation?.
Importer Workflow
Procedural prefab import and reimport
The clip pairs the authored importer state with the generated hierarchy so the import-time regeneration loop is visible instead of implied.
Typical workflow
- Create a new asset through Assets > Create > OctoShaper > Procedural Prefab.
- Assign the graph you want the importer to execute.
- Adjust the serialized configuration overrides on the importer.
- Let Unity reimport the asset and inspect the generated hierarchy it produces.
When to use it
Use a procedural prefab when you want a graph-driven result to behave like a static prefab instead of dynamically runtime generated content.
If you need live scene regeneration during play mode or edit mode, the ProceduralGraphExecutor component is still the more direct tool. Procedural prefabs are about import-time generation and reuse. The runtime component API is covered in Runtime Generation?.
What is authored
- The .octoasset file itself is just the import trigger.
- The importer stores the referenced ProceduralGraph and ProceduralConfiguration.
- Changing either of those inputs causes the imported result to regenerate.
What is generated
- The imported main object is a generated GameObject hierarchy.
- The hierarchy is rebuilt from the graph main output when that output resolves to an ElementSet?.
- Manual edits to the generated hierarchy should be treated as temporary, because reimport replaces the output.