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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:
- Install the Unity Hub and Unity LTS
- Create a Unity project and install the Umodeler asset
- Create a UModeler object and explore the UModeler interface
- Navigate the scene and scale, rotate and move 3D objects
- Adjust faces, edges and vertices to make unique 3d shapes
- Create a simple car model based on the Simpsons Canyonero
- 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 2D and 3D development platform. It’s a versatile environment used to create animations, 2D, 3D and VR games, as their recent showreel demonstrates!
You’ll recognise these popular games, all developed in Unity. Expand to view:
Beat Saber
New Star GP
Cuphead
With its full 3D feature set, Unity can also be used to create full animated films and cinematic sequences:
Short Movie: ADAM
Animated film: SONDER
To introduce 3d modelling we’re using the Unity 3d modelling asset UModeler:
UModeler is a PAID asset with a standard price of around £120 / $120. Once you’ve learnt the basics you may like to graduate to UModeler X, the 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!
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 involves selecting the type of project, giving it a name and allocating a folder for it on our computer. This is essential to help stay organised as we add scenes and assets to a project.
UModeler is a 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!
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Video Transcript (Click to expand)
Here is the full transcript for explainer two above.
00:00:14 – 00:00:15
Welcome to you.
00:00:15 – 00:00:22
In this second explainer in the series beginning 3d modeling with u modeler, we’ll add the u modeler asset to our Unity account.
00:00:23 – 00:00:26
We’ll then create a new Unity project and import the asset.
00:00:27 – 00:00:30
You can find the Unity Asset Store at this address.
00:00:31 – 00:00:35
Log in to the asset store using the Unity account you previously created.
00:00:36 – 00:00:38
Do that at the top right here.
00:00:41 – 00:00:43
I’ll search the site for umodeler.
00:00:45 – 00:00:49
I’ve already purchased the asset which is why the button shows open in Unity.
00:00:49 – 00:00:55
You’ll need to select add to cart and go through the checkout process to add it to your account.
00:00:56 – 00:00:57
Let’s get started.
00:00:57 – 00:01:3
Open the Unity Hub, select the projects tab, and click on new project.
00:01:4 – 00:01:9
As you can see, Unity includes various built in project templates to start from.
00:01:9 – 00:01:11
I’ll select 3d URP.
00:01:12 – 00:01:17
URP is short for universal render pipeline and is suitable for most Unity 3d projects.
00:01:18 – 00:01:20
And select to download this template.
00:01:23 – 00:01:25
Give the project a sensible name.
00:01:26 – 00:01:33
I’ll call it u modeler demo 1 just for the purposes of this explainer and click create project.
00:01:34 – 00:01:38
Unity creates the project from scratch and installs key components automatically.
00:01:38 – 00:01:40
This can take a few minutes.
00:01:41 – 00:01:42
Welcome to the Unity editor.
00:01:43 – 00:01:47
To use the u modeler asset we need to import it into our new project.
00:01:48 – 00:01:50
Go to window, package manager.
00:01:51 – 00:01:55
Here I can see packages automatically installed when I created the project.
00:01:55 – 00:02:0
Where it says packages in project, I’ll switch to my assets.
00:02:1 – 00:02:4
I’ve purchased lots of assets over the years as you can see.
00:02:5 – 00:02:10
Locate UModeler on the list and click to download it.
00:02:12 – 00:02:14
And import.
00:02:16 – 00:02:21
Check everything is selected, which should be the default, and import into the project.
00:02:21 – 00:02:23
This may take a couple of minutes.
00:02:24 – 00:02:30
You’ll know umodeler has correctly installed if you can see this row of icons with red accents
.
00:02:31 – 00:02:36
The first icon should be labeled new UModeler tool when you hover your mouse over it.
00:02:36 – 00:02:42
For easy access to UModeler’s own resources, you can go to tools, UModeler, about.
00:02:45 – 00:02:51
In the next explainer we’ll overview the uModeler interface and add a 3 d object to a Scene.
The main steps in this video:
- Log in to the Unity Asset Store and purchase the UModeler asset.
- 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.
- In the Unity Editor, navigate to “Package Manager” and import the UModeler asset.
- 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 install the latest version of Unity LTS to work with in 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 November 2024.
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.
This is number 2 of 7 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you join us for the others!
