As promised, this blog entry is going to give an overview of existing Unity resources. I have tried to cover a wide variety of video and text-based tutorials, extensions for Unity and links to most example projects and documentation on the web. I have tried to categorize the resources and also present them in an order that should get you started in no time. Furthermore, I have spent a substantial amount of hours either absorbing these tutorials/docs completely or at least scanning through them (I haven't bought any paid tutorials except Will Goldstone's book). Thus, I believe all of these links should lead you to some form of valuable information about Unity. Thanks to all the authors for doing such an incredible job. Without further ado, my take on summarizing resources for Unity.
Unity website:
http://unity3d.com/Which license do you need?
http://unity3d.com/unity/licensesDownload the free version of Unity to get started:
http://unity3d.com/unity/download/ If you have no previous experience with Unity, start with these six video tutorials which give a quick overview of the Unity interface and some important features
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/video/ Continue with a more in-depth text-based walk through of very basic Unity functionality and work flow
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/Unity%20Basics.html To get you started with scripting, have a look at the following PDF document. It was written for an older version of Unity, but still covers relevant aspects of scripting with JavaScript. (2 hours to complete, no previous JavaScript knowledge required)
http://docwiki.unity3d.com/uploads/Main/Scripting%20Tutorial.pdf Unity features three scripting languages; JavaScript, C#, and Boo. Depending on your scripting language of choice, you might want to choose different tutorials to get started with Unity. Each tutorial link will also mention which scripting language is used. Most Unity tutorials available on the web are using JavaScript. Notice that JavaScript is commonly used for web applications. Unforunately, books which cover JavaScript are normally of little use for Unity's implementation of JavaScript. But worry not, a vast amount of tutorials will follow...
If you want to familiarize yourself with Unity's functionality more, browse through Unity's manual. You can skip the “Basics” section as we already went through this (see above).
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/index.html For a printable version of the 600+ pages manual, seehttp://
unity3d.com/support/documentation/printable.htmlIf you rather prefer to jump into the action, skip the manual altogether and have a look at the three books which have been published on Game Development with Unity (one recently added on 06/10/11).
1) Author Will Goldstone guides you through a complete project and introduces most of Unity's functionality (using JavaScript). The book is available as print and digital version and all needed assets and resources can be downloaded with the book. It's been a helpful investment from my point of view.
http://www.packtpub.com/unity-game-development-essentials/book This forum thread discusses the book and its content.
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=29041 2) Ryan Henson Creighton more recently published "Unity 3D Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide". Find out more about the book here:
https://www.packtpub.com/unity-3d-game-development-by-example-beginners-guide/book and the forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/61349-Unity-3D-Game-Development-by-Example3) Craig Stevenson and Simon Quiq (publisher Deep Pixel) released "Unity 3 Blueprints: A practical guide to Indie games development". Their website provides all the art assests and code to create four classic games from scratch (Match the Pairs, Top-Down Shooter, Tower Defense, Marble Madness).
Amazon link
To get up-to-date on Unity 3 functionality, check out the following official documentation:
Unity 3 - What's new?
http://unity3d.com/unity/whats-new/unity-3 - Beast lightmapping Basics -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/Lightmapping.html- Beast Lightmapping In-Depth -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/class-LightMapping.html - Tree Creator -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/class-Tree.html- Umbra Occlusion Culling -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/Occlusion%20Culling.html You are now faced with the choice of tackling example projects provided by Unity Technologies or jump straight into user-generated tutorials. As the example projects are quite complex, I would suggest working through some video tutorials first. Nonetheless, here are the links for Unity's official example projects. They can be taken completely apart, reverse-engineered and reused for own projects.
3D Platform Game
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/3d-platform-game2D Platform Game
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/2d-gameplay-tutorial Iphone tutorials and more example projects
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/More Unity Example projects
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/example-projects/ Brand New Car Tutorial by Unity Technologies
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/car-tutorialNow, let's head on to TUTORIALS. This list starts with mostly basic and general tutorials at the top and lists more specific tutorials at the end.
Will Goldstone , author of the Unity Game Development book, worked on a series of helpful video tutorials here (using JavaScript):
http://learnunity3d.com/ (also
http://learnmesilly.com/).
More recently by Will Goldstone:
http://www.unity3dstudent.com/TornadoTwins Video Tutorials
They show step by step how to create a simple game using Javascript.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TornadoTwins Walker Boys Studio - Unity Tutorials from the Guildhall at SMU (an extensive list of tutorials with more on the way)
http://walkerboystudio.com/html/unity_training___free__.htmlCannedMushroom Video Tutorials (Unity and other software)
This is a series of projects intended for 2-hour self-instructed lessons using JavaScript
http://www.youtube.com/user/cannedmushrooms Unity Jumpstart
Proof of Concept Game to learn creating your own game from the ground up (JavaScript)
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=28433 http://www.unityjumpstart.com/ProofOfConcept_1/ 3dbuzz.com Series of Unity tutorials in C# (among many other tutorials)
registration required (free)
website -
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_home.phpforum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/37093-Over-7-hours-of-Unity-Training-Videos-Download-them-now!
BurgZergArcade - Unity Tutorials
Hack&Slash Tutorial using C# and plenty of other information and useful tutorials
website -
http://www.burgzergarcade.com/ UnityScript Basics (Scripting Basics for Noobs)
If you're new to scripting, read up on this good introduction to scripting in Unity. Lots of analogies are provided which makes it really easy to understand. The details are explained for C#, but the introduction is great for any scripting language.
website -
http://www.unityscript.com/lessons1/basics.phpUnityLabs
Text-based tutorials with screenshots covering a wide range of topics incl. scripting (using JavaScript), basic introduction to unity, character controllers, and user interfaces
http://www.unitylabs.net/tutorials/unity-beginners InfiniteAmmo Tutorial
General Introduction to Unity (3 parts so far)
Some scripting covered using Javascript (e.g. movement controls)
http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/impromptu-unity3d-intro-tutorial/ Technicat
Introduction to Game Development with Unity including Workflow, Scripting, GUI, Version Control, etc.
http://technicat.com/games/unity.html Advanced Media Lab at North Carolina State University
http://vimeo.com/channels/ncsuunity GearTech Games
4 Videos on how to work through a project (and more videos)
workflow between Modo and Unity
lightmapping
http://www.geartechgames.com/GearTech_Games/Beginning_a_Project/Beginning_a_Project.html Making Sense of Unity
These video tutorials provide more indepth coverage of unity scripting using Javascript (not meant to be introductory material)
lecture style explanations of concepts
more entertaining and not like most other screen-capture tutorials :)
http://www.youtube.com/etphonemyhomeIO Development Diary
This series of video tutorials (some paid, some free) follows the development of a Space Shooter and covers a Modo-Unity workflow and C# scripting.
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=55762website -
http://fallingbrickwork.fearedfuturegames.com/ Virtual Autonomy
Guide for working with Google SketchUp and Unity
(also shaders and multi-user environments)
text-based with screenshots
http://virtualautonomy.com/blog/index.php/tutorials/ Robotduck - Blog
The blog of this Unity user provides tips on Unity scripting and functionality and showcases some of his projects
http://robotduck.wordpress.com/ Ethical Games
Unity Tutorials for Flash Developers
http://ethicalgames.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/unity-for-flash-developers-tutorial-1/ Car Tutorial
Physics Setup for a car, AI for driving around racetrack
http://www.gotow.net/andrew/blog/?page_id=78 Terrain Tutorial
seven videos on how to create terrains in Unity from heightmaps to finish
http://vimeo.com/album/156452 In-Depth Terrain Tutorial
text-based with screenshots
http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Terrain_tutorial forum thread
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=16941 Paul Bourke -Unity for stereoscopic display
text-based with screenshots
http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/miscellaneous/stereographics/Unitystereo/ Paul Bourke – Unity and Idome
text-based with screenshots
http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/miscellaneous/domemirror/UnityiDome/ RENCI – Unity for Dome projections
http://unc.renci.org/rencinews/the-dome-corner-006 Official Unity Tech. Tutorial for the Animation View (NEW) 3-part-series of video tutorials
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/video-animation-viewPAID TUTORIALS
VTC - Unity tutorial using JavaScript (subscription based content on
vtc.com)
http://www.vtc.com/products/Introduction-to-Game-Development-Using-Unity-3D-Tutorials.htmUnity-Tutorials (mostly paid and some free tutorials)
http://www.unity-tutorials.com/ Design3.com (subscription based tutorials, Unity-related content among other software like Maya, 3DS Max, Photoshop)
http://www.design3.com/by-software/unity GENERAL RESOURCES
Once you went through some or all of these tutorials, you should be creating your own content in no time. Next, I'll provide an overview of general resources for Unity. Whenever you need to find some information about Unity, scripting, projects, collaborations or anything Unity-related, check these links out:
Searching for resources - The All-In-One Unity Reference Search
http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=001712401338047450041:csfhqk-trfa credit goes to Robotduck for providing this link to the public; tremendous time saver (seehttp://
robotduck.wordpress.com/)
Unity Scripting Reference
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/index.html Unity Component Reference
each available Component described in detail
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/index.html Unity Wiki (UnifyCommunity)
http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Unity Answers
Invaluable when you have specific questions about Unity or Scripting
http://answers.unity3d.com/ This link should also get you started on learning Unity
http://answers.unity3d.com/search?q=learning+tutorial Unity Forum
http://forum.unity3d.com/ http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=30633 Unity Feedback
feature requests go here
http://feedback.unity3d.com Unity IRC
Point your favorite IRC client to
irc.freenode.net and join #unity3d to chat in real time.
Overview of Unity Resources
http://www.reddit.com/r/unity_tutorials/ Overview of Unity blogs
http://www.reddit.com/r/unity_blogs/ TOOLS AND EXTENSIONS
Lastly, I want to list extensions and tools which can make your life as a Unity developer easier.
Unity Extensions
Terrain Toolkit
External Lightmapping Tool
Locomotion System
Explosion Framework
Head Look Controller
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/unity-extensions/overview of some extensions – Unity youtube and vimeo channels
http://www.youtube.com/user/Unity3D http://www.vimeo.com/unity3d/videos Visual C# Express- free IDE for your C# development
http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/#2008-Visual-CS3DAttack - Tools and Home of Unity Creative Magazine
First Person Shooter Developer Kit
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=53136website -
http://www.3dattack.us/3DAttack/News.html AngryAnt
One of Unity's developers provides projects to extend Unity's functionality (e.g. pathfinding and AI)
http://angryant.com/ forum thread Path -
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/19341-Pathfinding-in-unity-First-Path-1.0-tutorial-now-available!
sturestone's A* Pathfinding (currently version 2.9)
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/67417-A*-Pathfinding-2.9-Is-Released-(Unity-3-Compatible) Weltenbauer
Augmented Reality / Webcam Input
http://produktion.weltenbauer.com/#/5 forum threads:
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=32613&highlight=toolkit (Webcam Toolkit)
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=11889&highlight=toolkit (ARToolkit Extension)
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=32669&highlight=toolkit (UnityAR)
SeeingMachines FaceAPI / VisionBlaster – Head Tracking in Unity (purchase required)
http://visionblaster.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=62&lang=en and
http://www.seeingmachines.com/product/faceapi/downloads/Mostly Tigerproof – Using Google Analytics and Unity to track game stats
This is a blog entry about Google Analytics and Unity
http://blog.mostlytigerproof.com/2009/10/06/gathering-statistics-using-google-analytics-and-unity-3d/ Antares Project - Extensive Set of Tools to extend the Unity Editor - Open Source
Also available: Antares.dll (free for non-commercial work)
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=50843 Antares Deformator - Deform your meshes (Beta Version)
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=54290UniWii – WiiMote implementation
http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=UniWii forum thread
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=7284 Unity Terrain Tools - EasyRoads (purchase required)
http://unityterraintools.com/downloads.phpforum thread
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=23519 Six Times Nothing - Road/Path Tool and River Tool
http://www.sixtimesnothing.com/Dastardly Banana - FPS Weapon Tool, Radar examplehttp://
dastardlybanana.com/Downloads.htm Starscene Software - Tools, Games and Utilities for Unity (purchase required for utilities)
http://www.starscenesoftware.come.g. Vectrosity - Line Drawing Tool
http://starscenesoftware.com/vectrosity.htmlFractscape - Terrain Tool
Stitchscape - Stitch multiple terrains together
GUIX - visual Menu/GUI builder (purchase required)
http://www.ennanzus.com/developer/GUIX/buy.htm EZ Game Saver - saving tool (purchase required)
http://www.anbsoft.com/middleware/ezs/index.htmNote that I will cover saving to text file in a later blog
Fire Tool - Realistically spreading fire (on hold for the moment)
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=49588Decal Framework - Easily place decals in your scene
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=54613Visual Logic Editor by NeoDrop (Antares VIZIO, Work in Progress)
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=31132 Nimbus Volumetric Clouds
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=51972RapidUnity Vehicle Editor Resource Pack
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=56257 Ocean 3D - Ocean Simulation
website:
http://www.nikko3d.com/index.php/downloads-2/ShaderFusion - Node-Based Shader Editor (Requires Unity3)
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=60611 Strumpy Shader Editor - Node-Based Shader Editor
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/56180-Strumpy-Shader-Editor-Beta-3.1-released-(performance-usability-upgrade) Overview of extensions on UnifyWiki
http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Extensions LightUp (purchase required)
Extension of Google Sketchup (Lighting Solution) which works nicely for exporting lightmaps to Unity
http://www.light-up.co.uk/ Community Project - GTAIV Vehicle Replica (Pledge of > USD 50 required)
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=50493Stereoscopic Solutions
3D Anaglyph System (purchase required)
Stereoskopix3D
Plugin for Kinect's Primesense Camera
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/67982-Kinect-pluginUnity Web Suite - tutorials and examples in C# to create online content
forum thread -
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/17674-Unity-Web-Suite-(Examples-Tutorials) website -
http://www.nickbreslin.com/2009/04/phphandler-20-released/Tools for Visual Programming:
Antares Universe - Vizio (forum thread)
cost (as of 05/22/11) Euro 142.50
Visual programming tool similar to the approaches of Quest3D and Virtools.
Playmaker by Hutong Games
cost (as of 05/22/11) Euro 95.00
Visual State Machine Editor (website and forum thread)
uScript by Detox Studios (Beta Version)
website and forum thread
Visual Scripting Tool based on UDK's Kismet
