Zwager
#MIXEDREALITIES
INTRODUCTION
TO
UNITY
Introduction to the experiment
For our second DESIGN 241 lecture we were introduced to the expansive world of unity. Unity is a game developing software commonly used to create most immersive games currently on the market. This lecture set us up for the next couple of weeks as we are slowly being taught how to use this complicated program.
LEARNING THE BASICS
Simple Navigation
To start learning the basics of Unity we familiarised ourselves with the layout. In Unity there are three main aspects to the interface; the scene view, hierarchy window and the project window. The scene view is where the game is constructed, the hierarchy window is the list of all the game objects being used and the project window contains all the assets needed for the application. As shown in the video above we were also taught the basics of how to navigate through the interface.
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Once we had been taught how to navigate we were shown how to create a basic scene within Unity. To do this we added a number of 3D objects (such as a cube) into the scene window. Left to my own devices, I then played around with altering the colour and texture of the objects to ensure my scene wasn't monochromatic. I then progressed to adding physics to these objects, enabling them to interact with each other. Equipped with these tools, I was able to create the short animation shown at the start of the blog.
Creating a virtual room
For this week’s experiment we were tasked with creating a virtual room, that would eventually be used as a level in a game. I decided to make a basketball court as I could practice constructing objects using the basic 3D objects. I made use of the Unity assets store to import the chair.
Reasons for selection
Unity is a very valuable program as it can be used across all platforms, making it easier to cater for the different operating systems in use in our class. It is useful for rapid prototyping as well as quickly producing visual scenes. It is also a gateway into the programming world, as basic script files are written in C#. Proficiency in C# will further develop our skills and potential as designers. Lastly, Unity was chosen over other game development platforms as there is a very large community that is willing to offer support for when we inevitably get stuck.
Discussion
This week was a steep learning curve for me personally, being a complete novice at Unity, I found it challenging to learn how to navigate and really understand how the program worked. I was initially very slow, however I learnt that the navigation and basic editing functions can be accessed using the qwerty keys which helped speed up the process. Moreover, I found it difficult to understand how the directional light worked so I had to continue to experiment to gain a better understanding and proficiency. Lastly, I learnt about applying physics to the 3D objects which made the scenes more realistic to help improve VR experiences. To make the scene shown at the beginning of the blog I applied gravity to certain aspects by adding the rigid-body component. Through this I could also change the weight of the object.