Unity Tutorial: Learning the Interface

Learning the Interface

First Launch

Let's begin learning Unity. If you have not yet opened Unity, you can find it inside Applications->Unity on Mac, or Start->Programs->Unity on Windows. When it launches for the first time, the Unity Editor will appear:

By default, the "Islands" scene of the Tropical Paradise project will appear Take your time to look over the Unity Editor interface and familiarize yourself with it. The Main Editor Window is made up of several Tabbed Windows, called Views. There are several types of Views in Unity, each with a specific purpose.

Now we'll look at each View in detail.

Project View

Every Unity project contains an Assets folder. The contents of this folder are presented in the Project View. This is where you store all the assets that make up your game, like scenes, scripts, 3D models, textures, audio files, and Prefabs. If you right-click on any asset in the Project View, you can choose Reveal in Finder (Reveal in Explorer on Windows) to actually see the asset itself in your file system.

Important Note: You should never move project assets around using the OS since this will break any metadata associated with the asset. Always use the Project View to organize your assets.

To add assets to your project, you can drag any file from your OS into the Project View, or use Assets->Import New Asset. Your asset is now ready to be used in your game. For more information about working with assets, skip ahead to the Asset Workflow section of the manual.

Scenes are also stored in the Project View. Think of these as individual levels. For example, the Islands Scene loads by default when Unity first launches. To create a new Scene, use Command-N (Control-N on Windows). To save the current Scene into the Project View, use Command-S (Control-S on Windows).

Some game assets need to be created from within Unity. To do this, use the Create drop-down, or right click->Create.

The Create drop-down This will allow you to add scripts, Prefabs, or folders to keep your project organized. You can rename any asset/folder by pressing Enter on Mac, or F2 on Windows, or with two paced clicks on the asset name. If you hold the Alt key while you expand or contract a directory, all subdirectories will also be expanded or contracted.

Hierarchy

The Hierarchy contains every GameObject in the current Scene. Some of these are direct instances of asset files like 3D models, and others are instances of Prefabs -- custom objects that will make up much of your game. You can select and Parent objects in the Hierarchy. As objects are added and removed from the scene, they will appear and disappear from the Hierarchy as well.

Parenting

Unity uses a concept called Parenting. To make any GameObject the child of another, drag the desired child onto the desired parent in the Hierarchy. A child will inherit the movement and rotation of its parent. You can now expand and contract the parent to see its children in the Hierarchy without affecting your game.

Two unparented objects

One object parented to another To learn more about Parenting, please review the Parenting section of the Transform Component page.