Get Started with Unity
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
What You’ll Learn in This Hour:
How to install Unity
How to create a new project or open an existing project
How to use the Unity editor
How to navigate inside the Unity Scene view
This hour focuses on getting you ready to rock and roll in the Unity environment. It starts by looking at the different Unity licenses and installing the one you choose. This hour you’ll also learn how to create new projects as well as open existing ones. You’ll open the powerful Unity editor and examine its various components. Finally, you’ll learn to navigate a scene by using mouse controls and keyboard commands. This lesson is meant to be hands-on, so download Unity while reading and follow along.
Installing Unity
Before you can begin using Unity, you first need to download and install it. Software installation is a pretty simple and straightforward process these days, and Unity is no exception. Before you can install anything, though, you need to look at the three available Unity license options: Unity Personal, Unity Plus, and Unity Pro. Unity Personal is free and has everything you need to complete all the examples and projects in this book. In fact, Unity Personal contains everything you need to make games commercially, up to an annual revenue of $100,000! If you’re lucky enough to start earning more than this, or if you want to access the advanced features of Unity Plus or Unity Pro (mainly aimed at teams), then you can always upgrade in the future.
Downloading and Installing Unity Hub
As mentioned earlier in this lesson, when you want to program games using Unity, the Unity Hub is your starting point. When you are ready to begin downloading and installing Unity Hub, follow these steps:
Go to the Unity Store website, at https://store.unity.com, and choose your license type.
If you chose the Unity Personal edition, you have the option to download the Unity Hub directly or to go through a guided installation experience aimed at assisting brand-new users. Either way will get you where you need to be.
Run the installer and follow the prompts as you would with any other piece of software.
Open up the Unity Hub application (see Figure 1.1). You may be prompted to sign in or create a new account. Doing so takes only a moment, and you will need an account later, so go ahead and do it now.
In addition to being the place where you manage all projects and installations, the Unity Hub is also a place where you can find community news and learning resources to assist with your development journey.
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FIGURE 1.1 The Unity Hub.
Installing the Unity Editor
Now that the hub is installed, it is time to install the Unity editor. Using the Hub, you can have as many versions of Unity installed as you’d like (and that your hard drive allows). To install the Unity editor, follow these steps:
In the Hub, click Installs and then click the ADD button.
Select the 2020 LTS release (see Figure 1.2). (The note “Why 2020 LTS?” explains why you want this version.) Click Next.
FIGURE 1.2 Selecting the 2020 LTS release of Unity.
In the next window, notice that you can select any add-ons or build platforms you’d like to support (see Figure 1.3). You can add platforms now, but you don’t have to select any of them in order to continue with this book. You can also come back here later and add new items. So for now, just click Done.
FIGURE 1.3 Additional installation modules.
Now you just need to wait for the installation to complete. When it is done, you will be good to go!
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Note
Supported Operating Systems and Hardware
To use Unity, you must be using a Windows PC or a Mac computer. Although there is a version of the editor that runs on Linux machines, Linux is not a directly supported OS. Your computer must also meet the minimum requirements outlined here (taken from the Unity website at the time this book was published):
Windows 7 SP1+, Windows 8, or Windows 10, 64-bit versions only; OS X 10.12.6+. Note that Unity was not tested on server versions of Windows and OS X.
Graphics card with DX9 (shader model 3.0) or DX11 with feature level 9.3 capabilities.
A CPU that supports the SSE2 instruction set (most modern CPUs).
Note that these are minimum requirements.