Custom Unity Editor Tools for VR Graphics
Standard Unity Editor not created for VR-specific tasks: real-time Draw Call budget checking, VRC Guideline validation for Shadow Caster compliance, polygon count control per-eye with Multiview. Opening Frame Debugger and counting manually each time—time loss on every asset review. Custom Editor Tools solve this once and work for whole team.
What tools VR team really needs
Most sought class—Asset Validator. VRC Guideline for Oculus requires: character mesh no more than 70,000 triangles, textures no higher than 2048×2048 without exceptions, all materials on standard shaders without Tessellation. Can't check manually on every asset with team 5+ people. Editor Window with AssetDatabase.FindAssets() + AssetImporter scans folder in seconds and shows violators with quick navigation.
Second tool—Scene Complexity Dashboard. Shows directly in Scene View current Draw Call count, Shadow Caster count, material statistics (how many unique, how many batched). Implemented via EditorWindow + SceneView.duringSceneGui delegate + UnityEditor.Handles for overlays. Updates on any hierarchy change via EditorApplication.hierarchyChanged.
Third—LOD Preview Tool. Standard LOD Group Inspector shows switching by screen percentage, but in VR LOD distance depends on IPD, FOV and specific HMD resolution. Custom tool recalculates LOD transitions to real meters for target device (Quest 3: 96°, 2064×2208 per eye) and shows what player actually sees at 1, 3, 10 meters distance.
Technical implementation details
Unity Editor API offers several customization levels:
EditorWindow—independent window with any GUI. Built on IMGUI (old style) or UI Toolkit (new, recommended since Unity 2021+). For complex UI with tables and filters UI Toolkit with ListView and virtualization much better—IMGUI lags on 500+ asset lists.
Custom Inspector via [CustomEditor(typeof(MyComponent))]—extends standard Inspector. Add to VR Camera Rig Inspector buttons "Validate FOV Settings," "Check IPD Range," "Preview at Quest 3 Resolution."
SceneView Tools via EditorTool (API appeared Unity 2019.1)—custom Scene toolbar tool. Use for "VR Scale Reference": displays 1.75m human figure next to any object for VR-space scale assessment.
AssetPostprocessor—hook on asset import. Automatically applies needed settings to FBX on import: modelImporter.importNormals = ModelImporterNormals.Calculate, LOD limitation, Read/Write flag generation only for mesh colliders.
From practice: in architectural VR visualization project team spent 40 minutes on each asset review from 3D artists—polygon checking, UV unwrap, import settings. After Asset Validator + AssetPostprocessor implementation this reduced to 5 minutes: tool immediately highlights issues and applies standard settings automatically.
For shader pipeline make ShaderGraph Validator: checks all nodes compatible with URP Mobile (no Screen Space nodes, no Tessellation, no GrabPass analogs). Implemented via ShaderGraph.GraphData API.
Delivering tools to team
Custom Editor Tools live in Editor/ project folder and don't go into build. Correct practice—pack into Unity Package (package.json + asmdef with includePlatforms: [Editor]) and install via Package Manager from git repo. Team gets updates via Packages/manifest.json without manual file copying.
Work stages
Requirement gathering. Talk with team: what's checked manually regularly, where time is lost, what errors repeat.
Prototype. Quick Editor Window for most painful task—team gives feedback.
Full implementation. UI Toolkit, Asset Database integration, AssetPostprocessor setup, usage documentation.
Packaging. Pack into Unity Package for convenient distribution and updates.
| Tool type | Estimated development timeline |
|---|---|
| Simple Asset Validator (EditorWindow) | 2–5 days |
| Scene Complexity Dashboard with overlays | 1–2 weeks |
| Complete set (validator + dashboard + LOD preview) | 3–5 weeks |
Cost is calculated after discussing specific team requirements.