Script to arrange 3D game object in a grid

GridLayoutGroup component is useful for UI object but won’t help if you want to arrange 3D game objects or 2D sprites. Here is a custom script that will do that for you.

using UnityEngine;

[ExecuteInEditMode]
public class ArrangeInGrid : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private int rows = 2;
    [SerializeField] private int columns = 3;
    [SerializeField] private Vector2 cellSize = new Vector2(1f, 1f);

    void OnValidate()
    {
        ArrangeChildren();
    }

    private void ArrangeChildren()
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < transform.childCount; i++)
        {
            int row = i / columns;
            int column = i % columns;

            Vector3 newPosition = new Vector3(
                column * cellSize.x, // X position
                -row * cellSize.y,   // Y position (negative for downward)
                0                   // Z position (set to 0 for 2D, or customize for 3D)
            );

            transform.GetChild(i).localPosition = newPosition;
        }
    }
}

How It Works

• rows and columns: These determine the number of rows and columns in the grid.
• cellSize: This sets the size of each grid cell. Adjusting these values will control the spacing between the objects.

Usage

1. Attach the Script: Attach this ArrangeInGrid script to any GameObject that has child objects you want to arrange in a grid.
2. Adjust Parameters: In the Inspector, set the number of rows, columns, and the size of each cell.
3. Watch the Grid Form: As you adjust the parameters, the child objects will automatically arrange themselves into a grid layout.

Extending to 3D

To extend this to 3D space, you can add another dimension for the Z-axis and modify the newPosition to arrange objects in a 3D grid.