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Create a Unity project and install the Umodeler asset

Overview

Name of explainer: Create a Unity project and install the Umodeler asset

Creative theme: Beginning 3D Modelling using UModeler

Software used (for this explainer): Unity Hub. Unity LTS

User level: BEGINNER

This is explainer 2 of 7 in this series

This series includes:

1. Install the Unity Hub and Unity LTS
2. Create a Unity project and install the Umodeler asset
3. Create a UModeler object and explore the UModeler interface
4. Navigate the scene and scale, rotate and move 3D objects
5. Adjust faces, edges and vertices to make unique 3d shapes
6. Create a simple car model based on the Simpsons Canyonero
7. Apply materials and textures to the Canyonero and export the model

The Software

This series of explainers uses the Unity platform and the ‘Umodeler’ Unity asset .

UNITY is a real-time development platform. It’s a versatile development platform used for creating 2d, 3d and VR games, as their showreel demonstrates:

You’ll recognise these best-selling games, all developed in Unity. Expand to view:

With a full 3D feature set, Unity can also be used to create animated films and cinematic sequences:

To introduce 3d modelling we’re using the Unity 3d modelling asset UModeler:

Umodeler is a PAID asset, which retails at around £120 / $120.  Note that as of summer 2023 there is no longer a ‘free’ version available (uModeler lite offered a free ‘taster’ version with a limited feature set.  You will still find reference to it online but it is no longer available on the Unity asset store).  Once you’ve learnt the basics you may like to graduate to uModeler X, the new professional-level modelling tool for Unity:

The 3D car model created in this series

To demonstrate basic UModeler modelling tools we’ll create a simple car based on the Canyonero as made famous in the Simpsons!  Notice it’s made from a small number of polygons, has a ‘cut out’ interior and a nice shiny coat of paint!:

If the 3d model below does not display correctly in your browser, you can view it on Sketchfab

Here’s how our Canyonero looks at the end of the initial explainers:

…and here’s how it looks after additional tweaking and accessorising:

The pre-requisities

This is a BEGINNER explainer series, but you’ll need to have a basic knowledge of using Windows, downloading and installing software to follow along. Unity is a complex application and is not recommended for new computer users. For introductory Unity courses and videos, have a look at their own learning platform, Unity Learn

Why would I do this?

Creating a new project in Unity requires us to select the type of project we’re creating, give it a name and allocate a folder for it on our drive.  This is essential to tell’ Unity we’ll be working in 3D and to help stay organised as we add scenes and assets to a project.

uModeler is the paid Unity asset we’re going to use to introduce 3d modelling.  It must be installed into the new project.  Unity does not by include its own modelling tools, though it does include the ability to add basic 3d shapes (E.g. A cube or sphere) to a scene.

Let’s do it!

Click the play icon to watch this explainer video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.

The main steps in this video:

1. Log in to the Unity Asset Store and purchase the UModeler asset.
2. Open Unity Hub and initiate a new project. Select the “3D URP” template, which stands for Universal Render Pipeline, suitable for most 3D Unity projects.
3. In the Unity Editor, navigate to “Package Manager” and import the UModeler asset.
4. Confirm the successful installation of UModeler by identifying its specific icons in the Unity Editor.

Good to know

As mentioned in the explainer, it’s best to select the latest version of Unity LTS to work through this series.  This ‘long term support’ version will not suddenly be updated with new or cutting-edge features, and is supported by Unity and the community, making it easier to get help and less likely your project will ‘break’ part way through.

Where to next?

In the next explainer we’ll create a UModeler object and explore the UModeler interface.

Remember, this is part of a series of explainers – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂

Notes and updates

There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in October 2023. This page was last updated in October 2023.

Disclaimer:

We are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Any links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the Team. Modern software offers users many ways to accomplish a single task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to refer to multiple options except where deemed helpful to do so. All computer users must run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise the risk of data loss.

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This is number 2 of 7 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you join us for the others!