Using The Clip Pad

Document Summary: This document explains how to use the Clip Pad functionality within UnrealEd^?.

Document Changelog: Written by Warren Marshall.

What is the Clip Pad?

The clip pad is a stop gap between normal copying/pasting of actors and the creation of prefabs. You can copy actors into named slots on the clip pad and paste actors from any slot into your level. The clip pad is local to every level so you can have your own sets of commonly used sets of actors within your level.

How To Access It

Hold down SHIFT. Really, that's it. Whenever you're doing a cut/copy/paste operation, hold down the SHIFT key while doing it and the clip pad dialog will appear asking you which slot you want to cut/copy into or paste out of. If you cut/copy into an already existing slot, it's contents will be replaced.

The clip pad itself is stored in the world info so if you want to delete entries from it entirely just go to the View menu and click on World Properties. From there, expand the "Editor" category and you'll see the "ClipPadEntries" array. Inside of there you can delete them to your hearts content.

What the Clip Pad is NOT

It is NOT a replacement for prefabs. The clip pad makes it easy to copy/paste groups of commonly used actors around your level but once you paste them in, they are completely independent. This means that changes to the clip pad version or to any of the other copies of those actors will not be replicated to any of the other copies you've created.

If you need that sort of functionality, use a prefab.