Object.Instantiate

Parameters

Returns

Object The instantiated clone.

Description

Clones the object original and returns the clone.

This function makes a copy of an object in a similar way to the Duplicate command in the editor. If you are cloning a GameObject then you can also optionally specify its position and rotation (these default to the original GameObject's position and rotation otherwise). If you are cloning a Component then the GameObject it is attached to will also be cloned, again with an optional position and rotation.

When you clone a GameObject or Component, all child objects and components will also be cloned with their properties set like those of the original object.

By default the parent of the new object will be null, so it will not be a "sibling" of the original. However, you can still set the parent using the overloaded methods. If a parent is specified and no position and rotation is specified, the position and rotation of the original will be used for the cloned object's local position and rotation, or its world position and rotation if the instantiateInWorldSpace parameter is true. If the position and rotation is specified, they will be used as the object's position and rotation in world space.

The active status of a GameObject at the time of cloning will be passed on, so if the original is inactive then the clone will be created in an inactive state too.

See Also: In depth Prefab Instantiate discussion.

// Instantiates 10 copies of Prefab each 2 units apart from each other

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class ExampleClass : MonoBehaviour
{
    public Transform prefab;
    void Start()
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            Instantiate(prefab, new Vector3(i * 2.0F, 0, 0), Quaternion.identity);
        }
    }
}

Instantiate is most commonly used to instantiate projectiles, AI Enemies, particle explosions or wrecked object replacements.

using UnityEngine;

public class Example : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Instantiate a rigidbody then set the velocity

    Rigidbody projectile;

    void Update()
    {
        // Ctrl was pressed, launch a projectile
        if (Input.GetButtonDown("Fire1"))
        {
            // Instantiate the projectile at the position and rotation of this transform
            Rigidbody clone;
            clone = Instantiate(projectile, transform.position, transform.rotation);

            // Give the cloned object an initial velocity along the current
            // object's Z axis
            clone.velocity = transform.TransformDirection(Vector3.forward * 10);
        }
    }
}

Instantiate can also clone script instances directly. The entire game object hierarchy will be cloned and the cloned script instance will be returned.

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class Missile : MonoBehaviour
{
    public int timeoutDestructor;

    // ...other code...
}


public class ExampleClass : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Instantiate a Prefab with an attached Missile script
    public Missile projectile;

    void Update()
    {
        // Ctrl was pressed, launch a projectile
        if (Input.GetButtonDown("Fire1"))
        {
            // Instantiate the projectile at the position and rotation of this transform
            Missile clone = (Missile)Instantiate(projectile, transform.position, transform.rotation);

            // Set the missiles timeout destructor to 5
            clone.timeoutDestructor = 5;
        }
    }
}

After cloning an object you can also use GetComponent to set properties on a specific component attached to the cloned object.

Parameters

Returns

T Object of type T.

Description

You can also use Generics to instantiate objects. See the Generic Functions page for more details.

In this example, we instantiate our Missile object again, but by using Generics we don't need to cast the result:

using UnityEngine;

public class Missile : MonoBehaviour
{
    // ...other code...
}

public class InstantiateGenericsExample : MonoBehaviour
{
    public Missile missile;

    void Start()
    {
        Missile missileCopy = Instantiate<Missile>(missile);
    }
}