Essentials E00 - Projects

Key Lessons

• Open Unity (double-click the icon)
• Create a new Project, with Standard Assets
• Pick where you want to save your project
• Note: Standard Assets folder in Project is linked to [My new project] > Unity3 > Assets.
  • When you're adding assets, you can put them in the Assets folder, and they'll appear in your project.

Create a new project with standard assets

Select your save location

Essentials E01 - Scene Panel | part 1

Key Lessons

• The Scene panel is the main panel where you visually assemble your game.
• The Hierarchy panel lists game objects. You'll start with just the Main Camera.
• Key tools:
  • The Hand tool near the top-left lets you drag to pan around.
    • With Hand tool selected, hold alt and you can rotate your view. (The Hand becomes an Eye.)
    • With Hand tool selected, hold control/ctrl and you can zoom in and out. (The Hand becomes a Magnifying Glass.)
• Focus: If you're not focused on anything, click on an object in the Hierarchy and press F to focus on that object.

The Scene Panel

The Hierarchy Panel

Essentials E01 - Scene Panel | part 2

• Search:
  • Try this:
    • Select Game Object > Create Other > Cube (or Sphere or Cylinder or Capsule)
    • Rename it: double click on its name in the Hierarchy panel and give it a new name.
    • Move it using the Translate tool, the crossed arrows in the top menu. Drag the arrows to move it in any/all of the 3 dimensions. Or click on the object and drag it around.
    • (Optional: Camera views: click the object in the top-right corner to view the Scene from different angles.)
    • To find your object again, once you've moved away from it, type its name into the Search box, and you can filter the Hierarchy panel.
  • Exercise: Try adding a second object to your Scene, like a Sphere if you already have a box, or the reverse.

The Translate Tool

Camera Views

Essentials E02 - Scene Panel

Key lessons:

• The Hierarchy panel shows all the objects in your Scene.
  • (Your scene is like a level in a game. It's what you're designing in the main Scene panel.)
  • The Hierarchy panel handles Parent/Child relationships between objects. This means you can group objects together so that you can move them (with the Translate tool) all at once.
    • Drag one of your objects onto the other (not the camera).
    • Now, move the parent item. (Select it in the Hierarchy and use the Translate tool.) Do you see how parent and child move together?
      • Drag the child back out in the Hierarchy panel to separate them again.
• (Optional: to find an object from your Scene in the Hierarchy panel, select it in the Scene and click F in your Hierarchy panel, and it will be highlighted. This will be useful when your scenes get more complicated.)

Dragging a 'child' onto a 'parent'

Finding an object in the Hierarchy panel

Essentials E03 - Game view

Key lessons:

• The Hierarchy panel shows all the objects in your Scene.
  • (Your scene is like a level in a game. It's what you're designing in the main Scene panel.)
  • The Hierarchy panel handles Parent/Child relationships between objects. This means you can group objects together so that you can move them (with the Translate tool) all at once.
    • Drag one of your objects onto the other (not the camera).
    • Now, move the parent item. (Select it in the Hierarchy and use the Translate tool.) Do you see how parent and child move together?
      • Drag the child back out in the Hierarchy panel to separate them again.
• (Optional: to find an object from your Scene in the Hierarchy panel, select it in the Scene and click F in your Hierarchy panel, and it will be highlighted. This will be useful when your scenes get more complicated.

The Game view

Aligning the Camera and the Scene