Unity Development Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1. Working in Unity

To make things in Unity, it’s important to understand how Unity works and how to work with it as a piece of software. In this chapter, we’ll take a tour through the interface and features of Unity, so that you’ll be ready to start building things in the editor. It’s a complex piece of software, and can be intimidating to new users, especially those without a background in professional software. It’s an occasionally wild ride, but it’s a fulfilling domain to create in, fusing programming with art in a unique, compelling way.

Tip

If you’re brand new to Unity, we recommend reading all the recipes in this chapter, as well as in Chapter 2, before trying other recipes in this book.

This chapter also introduces you to many of the terms used in the Unity ecosystem, which will help you make sense of the rest of this book.

1.1 Getting Around in Unity

Problem

You want to learn how to navigate the Unity editor, and understand what each component does, how to use it, and how to customize it.

Solution

Unity’s user interface is organized along windows of content. Each different view can do different things. In this recipe, we’ll present some of the most important ones and talk about how to arrange the editor to suit your needs.

When you launch Unity and create a new project, you’ll be taken to the editor’s main window (Figure 1-1).

Figure 1-1. The main window ...