The Complete Unity 5 Intro - Learn to Build and Design Games

Explore the Unity 5 engine, including terrain systems and asset workflows. Import meshes and textures from 3D modeling software, build landscapes, and leverage the audio mixer for music and effects.

Import complex meshes and textures into Unity from external modeling software. See how mesh render components display imported models and connect external content to Unity.

Discover two free content creation tools for game development by using Blendr and Blender to create 3D assets, and make human to quickly generate characters for import into Unity.

Export Blender models to Unity by enabling the MakeHuman add-on, exporting selected objects as fbx with metric units, applying transforms and modifiers, and disabling animation before importing into Unity.

Import textures into Unity, then import the character model. Configure normal maps and switch from legacy to standard materials, then adjust smoothness for realistic skin.

Explore how to create terrain in Unity to build landscapes like valleys, mountains, snowy terrains, and forests, then navigate the terrain with a first-person controller.

Learn to create and sculpt Unity terrains by adding a terrain object, adjusting resolution and height, and applying heightmaps via grayscale images.

Create terrain heightmaps for Unity by generating cloud textures in Photoshop or a free alternative like GIMP, then save image and import it as a map for terrain into Unity.

Import a heightmap in Unity to generate terrain, adjust dimensions and height scale (600 to 100), switch to Windows, and note elevation is defined by black and white areas.

Select the terrain and use sculpting tools to push and pull the height map. Adjust brush size, shape, and strength, smooth rough areas, and paint text onto the terrain.

Import built-in Unity environment asset package and asset store terrain assets to texture paint terrains with grass, rock, and vegetation, including 12 tree types, 6 grass types, and 22 textures.

Learn to apply a terrain base texture in Unity by adding textures and normal maps, adjusting tiling, and painting variations across terrain using the brush tools.

Add and blend terrain textures by painting over the base grass texture using multiple textures, brush types, and adjustable opacity and target strength to create smooth transitions.

Explore terrain with a first-person controller by importing standard assets, enabling an FPS controller, deleting the main camera, and testing in play mode to experience terrain and add water.

Drag a water prefab from the standard assets into the scene, tweak the terrain to fit the water, and save the terrain to preserve collisions.

Add trees to the terrain using the asset package, enable colliders, and create a prefab; paint with adjustable brush size, density, height, color, and rotation for realistic shadows.

paint rock mesh and grass onto terrain using the paint details and grass textures, adjust brush size and zoom, and preview wind effects in game view.

Learn to create day and night cycles in Unity 5 by rotating a directional light to control time of day, shadows, and sunset effects, then observe lighting changes.

Learn the basics of Unity audio by using an audio listener and audio source to play sound effects and background music, with hands-on examples from the first person controller.

Import and configure a music track in Unity, set 2D audio, add an audio source with the clip, enable play on awake and loop for continuous background music.

Explore creating true 3D positional sound in Unity by using an audio clip, placing a sound object near the player, and adjusting 3D settings like max distance and volume roll-off.

Create and configure an audio mixer in Unity 5, route game audio through master and individual channels, and control master volume in real time while playing.

Route music and sound effects to separate channels in Unity's audio mixer, enabling independent volume control via music and SFX groups under master channel, with the master overriding child volumes.

Explore lighting, textures, and materials for real-time games in Unity 5, covering point, directional, area, and spotlights, light mapping, pre-computed global illumination, and the Unity standard shader workflow.

Discover how to configure Unity lighting, create a completely dark scene, and control day–night cycles with directional light and skybox.

Add a spotlight to the Unity scene and adjust its range, intensity, and cone to shape illumination. Enable soft shadows, tweak shadow bias and strength for more realistic shading.

Learn how directional lights rely on orientation in Unity to illuminate and cast shadows, then apply point lights for interior lighting with adjustable range and color for tungsten-like effects.

Demonstrate gamma correction and the difference between gamma space and linear space in Unity using calibration scene. Learn how linear color space enables physically based rendering for accurate results.

Explore global illumination in Unity by turning a box from direct to indirect lighting using pre-computed real-time GI and baking, with continuous baking to show bounce lighting and color bleeding.

Unity 5 introduces pre-computed real-time global illumination, creating indirect illumination and color bleeding as light bounces. It favors static objects and baked light maps; dynamic elements need other approaches.

Learn how light probes simulate indirect illumination for moving characters in Unity, using groups placed across key areas. Enable light probes on the character mesh for more realistic real-time lighting.

Explore physically based shading in Unity, comparing metallic and specular workflows within the standard shader, and learn to use pre-made PBS materials to achieve realistic lighting across diverse surfaces.

Create a physically based gold material in unity with the specular workflow, using the calibration chart to set black albedo, specular color, and high smoothness, then apply to the sphere.

Explore how reflection probes sample environment reflections to create realistic materials, and learn to place, size, and overlap probes with objects for more accurate Unity reflections.

Explore emissive lighting in Unity 5 by turning materials into light sources with a black-and-white texture, creating an emissive material, and using light probes for dynamic objects.

Discover Unity 5 particle systems with the Shuriken tool and its graph-based interface to create rain, smoke, water, and flocks of birds, image effects like blue blur and chromatic aberration.

Explore particle systems in Unity, using steam and smoke effects to create rain, snow, fog, explosions, and magical energy, while learning to import particle assets and use the Shuriken editor.

Explore how flare and afterburner particle systems function as multi-component effects, with smoke, sparks, and glow, and learn how simulation space (local vs world) shapes their movement.

Create a new Unity particle system from scratch in a nighttime scene, shaping glowing firefly, dust, and ethereal effects with varied velocities.

Adjust particle emitters in the shuriken editor by changing shape (cone, box, sphere) and emission settings, including base, radius, and angle, and tune the emission rate to control particle generation.

Tune a particle system by adjusting shuriken editor properties, including max particles, start lifetime, random between two constants for start size, and zero start speed for manual velocity control.

Explore particle velocity in Unity by enabling velocity over a lifetime, using random between two curves to assign diverse trajectories along x, y, and z axes.

Learn to refine particle renderers by switching render modes (billboard or mesh), applying additive or alpha blend materials, and disabling shadow casting and receiving for a stronger effect.

Learn to refine a Unity particle system using the Shuriken editor, adding color over lifetime with alpha fades, gradient colors, and fading in and out for more natural visuals.

Explore image effects in Unity 5 by importing the image effects package and applying a grayscale to the main camera, and learn how to preview effects in the game viewport.

Demonstrate camera motion blur setup and tuning with velocity scale for flowing motion, then apply vignette and chromatic aberration to create surreal atmospheres and draw attention to key areas.

Explore bloom, a selective blur that highlights bright areas for a dreamy look, adjustable by threshold and intensity, and use edge detection to create toon-like outlines.

Explore screen space ambient occlusion, global fog, and anti-aliasing to add contact shadows, atmosphere, and smoother edges in Unity.

Learn to create transparent effects in Unity 5 using the standard shader, by adjusting albedo alpha and choosing fade or transparent rendering modes to fade objects or render glass-like translucency.

Explore Unity 5's animation tools, build animations in the animation window, link them to game logic via events, and master export/import workflows for root motion and state machines.

Explore Unity 5 animation by building a bus with a moving door and a button that opens the door, and by animating characters and objects in a two-island scene.

Configure the door animation by creating an empty game object as a door hinge, parenting the door to the hinge, and rotating it around the hinge to open.

Create a door animation by selecting the door hinge, opening the Unity animation window, adding a rotation keyframe, and looping or refining the rotation in the timeline.

Learn to shape door animation with keyframes and curves in Unity, using the curve editor to create an ease-out on the y-axis rotation and make the open sequence button-triggered.

Build a push button animation in Unity using the animation editor and keyframes to move the button in and out with ease in motion, triggered by press rather than start.

Implement object interactivity in Unity by detecting mouse clicks with the event system and a physics raycaster, using colliders and an event trigger to respond to pointer clicks.

Detects mouse clicks to trigger a door animation; builds an animator state machine with an empty default state so the door stays closed until triggered.

Configure a trigger parameter named open door in the Unity animator and connect a transition from doing nothing to the door state to play the open door animation.

Configure an empty doing nothing state and a button state, add a push button press trigger, and connect transitions with no exit time for repeatable button animations.

Configure event triggers for a button and a door in Unity, using animator setTrigger with push button and open door to create level interactivity.

Discover how to set up a basic animated character in Unity with Mecanim, import standard assets, configure an animation controller, and transition from idle to running.

Import a humanoid character into Unity, map its bones with the Avatar Editor, and reuse animation data across models to animate the scene.

Create an animation controller, assign it to the character, and use a blend tree to smoothly transition from idle to walk to run.

Define three animation states: idle, walk, and run, within a blend tree, assign animations, and blend them using a move forwards float parameter to smoothly transition between states.

Use keyboard input to drive the animation controller's move forwards parameter, blending idle and walk states, and compare root motion versus in-place motion.