Hour 1. Introduction to Unity

What You’ll Learn in This Hour:

How to install Unity

How to create a new project or open an existing project

How to use the Unity editor

How to navigate inside the Unity Scene view

This hour focuses on getting you ready to rock and roll in the Unity environment. It starts by looking at the different Unity licenses and then installing the one you choose. This hour you’ll also learn how to create new projects as well as open existing ones. You’ll open the powerful Unity editor and examine its various components. Finally, you’ll learn to navigate a scene by using mouse controls and keyboard commands. This lesson is meant to be hands-on, so download Unity while reading and follow along.

Installing Unity

Before you can begin using Unity, you first need to download and install it. Software installation is a pretty simple and straightforward process these days, and Unity is no exception. Before you can install anything, though, you need to look at the three available Unity license options: Unity Personal, Unity Plus, and Unity Pro. Unity Personal is free and has everything you need to complete all the examples and projects in this book. In fact, Unity Personal contains everything you need to make games commercially, up to an annual revenue of $100,000! If you’re lucky enough to start earning more than this, or you want to access the advanced features of Unity Plus or Unity Pro (mainly aimed at teams), then you can always upgrade in the future.

Downloading and Installing Unity Hub

As mentioned previously, the Unity Hub is our starting point. While the steps to get started in this chapter may change over time due to slight website or software changes, the ideas are basically the same. When you are ready to begin downloading and installing Unity Hub, follow these steps:

1. Go the the Unity Store website at https://store.unity.com and choose your license type.

2. If you chose the Unity Personal edition, you have the option to download the Hub directly, or to go through a guided install experience aimed at assisting brand new users. Either way will get you where you need to be.

3. Run the installer and follow the prompts as you would with any other piece of software.

4. Open up the Unity Hub application (see Figure 1.1). You may be prompted to sign in or create a new account. Doing so only takes a moment and will be needed later, so it can’t hurt to do it now.

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FIGURE 1.1
The Unity Hub.

As mentioned above, the Unity Hub is where you will manage all projects and installs. It is also the place where you can find community news and learning resources to assist with your development journey!

Installing the Unity Editor

Now that the hub is installed, it is time to install the actual editor. Using the Hub, you can have as many versions of Unity installed as you’d like (and you have hard drive space for). To install the Unity editor:

1. In the Hub, click on Installs and the ADD button.

2. Select the 2020 LTS release (see Figure 1.2). If you are curious as to why this version, see the note “Supported Operating Systems and Hardware”. Click Next.

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FIGURE 1.2
Select the 2020 LTS release of Unity..

3. In the next window, you can select any addons or build platforms you’d like to support (see Figure 1.3). You can add platforms now, but you don’t have to select any of these in order to continue with this book. You can also come back here at any time and add new items. So for now, just click Done.

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FIGURE 1.3
Additional install modules.

4. Now you just need to wait for the install to complete. Once done, you will be good to go!

Getting to Know the Unity Editor

Now that you have Unity installed, you can begin exploring the Unity editor. The Unity editor is the visual component that enables you to build games in a “what you see is what you get” fashion. Because most interaction you have is actually with the editor, many people refer to it as simply Unity. This section examines all the different elements of the Unity editor and how they fit together to make games.

The Projects Dialog

Not only is the Unity Hub where you will manage your editor installs, it is also where you will create and select your projects. At this point, the project section of the Hub is probably blank (see Figure 1.4).

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FIGURE 1.4
The empty Project section of the Hub.

In order to create a new project, all you have to do is click New. If you have multiple editor versions installed and you’d like to pick your version, you can do so by clicking the downward arrow next to the New button. Finally, if you want to open a project you’ve already created (and that isn’t in the project list already), you can do so by clicking ADD. In the following exercise, we will see exactly how to create a new project from there.

Try it Yourself

Creating Your First Project

You are ready to create a project. Pay special attention to where you save the project so that you can find it easily later if necessary. Figure 1.5 shows the dialog box you use to create the project. Follow these steps:

1. Open the Unity Hub and click NEW. The New Project dialog will pop up.

2. Select a location for your project. I recommend that you create a folder called Unity Projects to keep all your book projects together. If you are unsure where to put your project, you can leave the default location.

3. Name your project Hour 1 TIY. Unity creates a folder with the same name as the project, in the location specified in this dialog.

4. Leave 3D for now. We’ll dig into some of the other options in the future.

5. Click CREATE.

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FIGURE 1.5
The settings for your first project.

The Unity Interface

So far, you have installed Unity and looked at the Project dialog. Now it is time to dig in and start playing around. When you open a new Unity project for the first time, you see a collection of gray windows (called views), and everything is rather empty (see Figure 1.6). Never fear; you will quickly get this place hopping. The following section look at each of the unique views, one by one. First, though, let’s talk about the layout as a whole.

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FIGURE 1.6
The Unity interface.

For starters, Unity allows you to determine exactly how you want to work. Any of the views can be moved, docked, duplicated, or changed. For instance, if you click the word Hierarchy (on the left) to select the Hierarchy view and drag it over to the Inspector (on the right), you can tab the two views together. You can also place your cursor on any line between views and resize the windows. In fact, why don’t you take a moment to play around and move things so that they are to your liking? If you end up with a layout that you don’t much care for, you can quickly and easily switch back to the built-in default view by going to Window > Layouts > Default Layout. While you are playing around, go ahead and try out a few of the other layouts. (I’m a fan of the Wide layout.) If you create a custom layout you like, you can save it by going to Window > Layouts > Save Layout. (I used a custom layout called Pearson for the writing of this book.) After you’ve saved a custom layout, if you accidentally change the layout, you can always get it back. It is worth noting that you can also control the layouts through the Layouts drop down locating in the upper right of the Unity editor (it is the drop down that says “Default” in Figure 1.6).

Duplicating a view is a fairly straightforward process as well. You can simply right-click any view tab (such as Inspector in Figure 1.7), hover the mouse cursor over Add Tab, and a list of views pops up for you to choose from (see Figure 1.7). You may wonder why you would want to duplicate a view. Say that in your view-moving frenzy, you accidentally closed the view. Re-adding the tab will give it back to you. Also, consider the capability to create multiple Scene views. Each Scene view could align with a specific element or axis within your project. If you want to see this in action, check out the 4 Split built-in layout by going to Window > Layouts > 4 Split. (If you created a layout that you like, be sure to save it before you check out 4 Split.)

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FIGURE 1.7
Adding a new tab.

Now, without further ado, let’s look at the specific views themselves.

The Project View

Everything that has been created for a project (files, scripts, textures, models, and so on) can be found in the Project view (see Figure 1.8). This is the window that shows all the assets and organization of a project. When you create a new project, you see a folder section called Assets. If you go to the folder on your hard drive where you save the project, you also find an Assets folder. This is because Unity mirrors the Project view with the folders on the hard drive. If you create a file or folder in Unity, the corresponding file or folder appears in the explorer (and vice versa). You can move items in the Project view simply by dragging and dropping. This enables you to place items inside folders or reorganize your project on-the-fly.

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FIGURE 1.8
The Project view.

When you click a folder in the Project view, the contents of the folder are displayed under the Assets section on the right. As you can see in Figure 1.8, the Assets section has a single folder named Scenes which appears on the right. If you open the Scenes folder, you will notice the contents (a single scene) is now listed on the right. If you would like to create assets, you can do so easily by clicking the + drop-down menu. This menu enables you to add all manner of assets and folders to a project.

The Favorites buttons enable you to quickly select all assets of a certain type. This makes it possible for you to get an “at a glance” view of your assets quickly. When you click one of the Favorites buttons (All Models, for instance) or perform a search with the built-in search bar, you can narrow down the results between Assets and Packages (or both; see Figure 1.8). With a little practice, finding exactly what you need will become a breeze!

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FIGURE 1.9
Searching the Project view.

The Hierarchy View

In many ways, the Hierarchy view (see Figure 1.10) is a lot like the Project view. The difference is that the Hierarchy view shows all the items in the current scene instead of the entire project. When you first create a project with Unity, you get the default scene, which has just two items in it: Main Camera and Directional Light game objects. As you add items to your scene, they appear in the Hierarchy view. Just like with the Project view, you can use the Create menu to quickly add items to your scene, search using the built-in search bar, and click and drag items to organize and “nest” them.

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FIGURE 1.10
The Hierarchy view.

The Inspector View

The Inspector view enables you to see all the properties of a currently selected item. Simply click any asset or object from the Project or Hierarchy view, and the Inspector view automatically propagates with information.

In Figure 1.11, you can see the Inspector view after the Main Camera object is selected from the Hierarchy view.

Let’s break down some of this functionality:

Unchecking the box next to the object’s name disables it and ensures that it does not appear in the scene. The box is checked (objects are enabled) by default.

Drop-down lists (such as the Layer and Tag lists; more on those later) are used to select from a set of predefined options.

Text boxes, drop-downs, and sliders can have their values changed, and the changes are automatically and immediately reflected in the scene—even if the game is running!

Each game object acts like a container for different components (such as Camera, and Audio Listener in Figure 1.11). You can disable these components by unchecking them or remove them by right-clicking and selecting Remove Component.

Components can be added by clicking the Add Component button.

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FIGURE 1.11
The Inspector view.

The Scene View

The Scene view is the most important view you work with because it enables you to see your game visually as it is being built (see Figure 1.12). Using the mouse controls and a few hotkeys, you can move around inside your scene and place objects where you want them. This gives you an immense level of control.

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FIGURE 1.12
The Scene view.

In a little bit, you will learn about moving around within a scene, but for now, let’s focus on the controls that are part of the Scene view:

Draw mode: This controls how the scene is drawn. By default, it is set to Shaded, which means objects will be drawn with their textures in full color.

2D/3D view: This control changes from a 3D view to a 2D view. Note that in 2D view, the scene gizmo (described later this hour) does not show.

Scene lighting: This control determines whether objects in the Scene view are lit by default ambient lighting or only by lights that actually exist within the scene. The default is to include the built-in ambient lighting.

Audition mode: This control sets whether an audio source in the Scene view functions.

Visual effects: This control determines whether items like skyboxes, fog, and other effects appear in the Scene view.

Hidden objects: This control toggles the visibility of hidden objects in the Scene view.

Scene grid: This control allows you to configure the Scene grid.

Tools: This control toggles the component editor tool panel.

Scene camera: This control allows you to configure the Scene camera (the camera used to view into the Scene while editing).

Gizmo selector: This control enables you to choose which gizmos—that is, indicators that help with visual debugging or aid in setup—appear in the Scene view. This control also determines whether the placement grid is visible.

Scene gizmo: This control shows which direction you are currently facing and aligns the Scene view with an axis.

The Game View

The last view to go over is the Game view. Essentially, the Game view allows you to “play” the game inside the editor by giving you a full simulation of the current scene. All elements of a game function in the Game view just as they would if the project were fully built. Figure 1.13 shows what a Game view looks like. Note that although the Play, Pause, and Step buttons are not technically a part of the Game view, they control the Game view and therefore are included in the image.

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FIGURE 1.13
The Game view.

The Game view comes with some controls that assist with testing games:

Play: The Play button enables you to play the current scene. All controls, animations, sounds, and effects are present and working. Once a game is running, it should behave very closely to how it would behave if it were actually being run in a standalone player (such as on your PC or mobile device). To stop the game from running, click the Play button again.

Pause: The Pause button pauses the execution of the currently running Game view. The game maintains its state and continues exactly where it was when paused. Clicking the Pause button again causes the game to continue running.

Step: The Step button works while the Game view is paused and causes the game to execute a single frame of the game. This effectively allows you to “step” through the game slowly and debug any issues you might have. Clicking the Step button while the game is running causes the game to pause.

Aspect drop-down: From this drop-down menu, you can choose the aspect ratio you want for the Game view window while running. The default is Free Aspect, but you can change this to match the aspect ratio of the target platform you are developing for.

Maximize on Play: This button determines whether the Game view takes up the entirety of the editor when run. By default, this is off, and a running game is only the size of the Game view tab.

Mute Audio: This button turns off the sounds when playing the game. This is handy when the person sitting next to you is getting tired of hearing your repeated play-testing!

Stats: This button determines whether rendering statistics are displayed on the screen while the game is running. These statistics can be useful for measuring the efficiency of a scene. The stats are turned off by default.

Gizmos: This is both a button and a drop-down menu. The button determines whether gizmos are displayed while the game is running. Game view gizmos are not displayed by default. The drop-down menu (the small arrow) on this button determines which gizmos appear if gizmos are turned on.

Honorable Mention: The Toolbar

Although not a view, the toolbar is an essential part of the Unity editor. Figure 1.14 shows the toolbar components:

Transform tools: These buttons enable you to manipulate game objects and are covered in greater detail later in this book. Pay special attention to the button that resembles a hand. This is the Hand tool, and it is described later this hour.

Transform gizmo toggles: These toggles allow you to manipulate how gizmos appear in the Scene view. Leave them alone for now.

Game view controls: These buttons control the Game view.

Account and Services controls: These buttons allow you to manage the Unity account you are using as well as the services you are using in your project.

Layers drop-down: This menu determines which object layers appear in the Scene view. By default, everything appears in the Scene view. Leave this alone for now. Layers are covered in Hour 5, “Lights and Cameras.”

Layout drop-down: This menu allows you to quickly change the layout of the editor.

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FIGURE 1.14
The toolbar.

Navigating the Unity Scene View

The Scene view gives you a lot of control over the construction of a game. The ability to place and modify items visually is very powerful. None of this is very useful, though, if you cannot move around inside the scene. This section covers a couple different ways to change your position and navigate the Scene view.

The Hand Tool

The Hand tool (hotkey: Q) provides a simple way to move about the Scene view with the mouse (see Figure 1.14). This tool is especially useful if you are using a mouse with only a single button (because other methods require a two-button mouse). Table 1.1 briefly explains each of the Hand tool controls. (Don’t worry about the other buttons next to the Hand tool yet. They are covered a little bit later.)

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FIGURE 1.15
The Hand tool.

TABLE 1.1 The Hand Tool Controls

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You can find all the Unity hotkeys at https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/SceneViewNavigation.html.

Flythrough Mode

Flythrough mode enables you to move about the scene using a traditional first-person control scheme. This mode feels like home for anyone who plays first-person games (such as first-person shooters). If you don’t play those games, this mode might take a little getting used to. Once you become familiar with it, though, it will be second nature.

Holding down the right mouse button while your mouse cursor is over the Scene view puts you into Flythrough mode. All the actions laid out in Table 1.2 require that the right mouse button be held down.

TABLE 1.2 Flythrough Mode Controls

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Summary

In this hour, you took your first look at the Unity game engine. You started off by downloading and installing Unity. From there, you learned how to open and create projects. Then you learned about all the different views that make up the Unity editor. You also learned how to navigate around the Scene view.

Q&A

Q. Are assets and game objects the same?

A. Not exactly. The big difference is that an asset has a corresponding file or group of files on the hard drive, whereas a game object does not. An asset may or may not contain a game object.

Q. There are a lot of different controls and options. Do I need to memorize them all right away?

A. Not at all. Most controls and options are already set to default states that cover most situations. As your knowledge of Unity grows, you will continue to learn more about the different controls available to you. This lesson is just meant to show you what’s there and to give you a bit of familiarity.

Workshop

Take some time to work through the questions here to ensure that you have a firm grasp of the material.

Quiz

1. True or False: You must purchase Unity Pro to make commercial games.

2. Which view enables you to manipulate objects in a scene visually?

3. True or False: You should always move your asset files around within Unity and not use the operating system’s file explorer.

4. True or False: You manage Unity projects and installs from within the editor.

5. What mode do you enter in the Scene view when you hold down the right mouse button?

Answers

1. False. You can make games with Unity Personal or Unity Plus.

2. Scene view

3. True. This helps Unity keep track of the assets.

4. False. You manage projects and editor installs through the Hub.

5. Flythrough mode

Exercise

Take a moment to practice the concepts presented in this hour. It is important to have a strong foundational understanding of the Unity editor because everything you will learn from here on out will utilize it in some way. To complete this exercise, do the following (This section needs to be updated after the 2020 LTS release – very soon!):

1. Create a new scene by going to File > New Scene or by pressing Ctrl+N (Command+N on a Mac).

2. Create a folder in the Project view by right-clicking Assets and selecting Create > Folder. Name the folder Scenes.

3. Save your scene by going to File > Save Scene or by pressing Ctrl+S (Command+S on a Mac). Be sure to save the scene in the Scenes folder you created and give it a descriptive name.

4. Add a cube to your scene. You can do this in one of three ways.

Click the GameObject menu at the top of the editor and select 3D Object > Cube.

Click Create > 3D Object > Cube in the Hierarchy view.

Right-click in the Hierarchy view and select 3D Object > Cube.

5. Select the newly added cube in the Hierarchy view and experiment with its properties in the Inspector view.

6. Practice navigating around the Scene view by using Flythrough mode, the Hand tool, and snap controls. Use the cube as a point of reference to help navigate.

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