All our workflow explainers are waffle-free and work-tested. That’s the pixels.cool guarantee!

Import a Unity coffee shop asset and arrange the 3D objects in the scene

Overview

Name of explainer: Import a free Unity coffee shop asset and place our 3D objects in the scene

Creative theme: Beginning 3D Modelling

Software used (for this explainer): Unity

User level: INTERMEDIATE

This is explainer 8 of 8 in this series

This series includes:

1. Get tooled up for this explainer series
2. Navigate the Tinkercad interface, add 3d objects to the workplane and rotate & scale them
3. Create a coffee mug in Tinkercad
4. Export a coffee mug from Tinkercad in OBJ format
5. Navigate the Kenney Shape interface and edit built-in objects
6. ‘Trace’ a Space Invader image in Kenney Shape to create a 3d object and export it in OBJ format
7. Create a new Unity project and import the objects created in Tinkercad and Kenney Shape
8. Import a free Unity coffee shop asset and place 3D objects in the scene

The Software

In this series of explainers we use three applications. You can choose to work with only one or two of them if you prefer.

Tinkercad, to introduce 3D navigation, scaling, rotating and combining shapes and exporting 3D objects. Tinkercad is completely free and runs in your web browser. Create a free account now and be ready to use it in explainers 2, 3 and 4, when we model a mug and export it from the program.

Kenney Shape, for ‘tracing’ a 2D image and turning it into a 3D voxel object and exporting it. Kenney shape is completely FREE! We’ll create and export a 3D Space Invader in explainers 5 and 6:

Unity for importing 3D objects, assembling them in a 3D scene and applying simple textures and lighting. Unity is FREE for personal use. We’ll start assembling a Retro Cafe, incorporating the mug and Space Invader, in explainers 7 and 8:

The 3D Objects modelled in this series

Once we’ve got to grips with Tinkercad we’ll use it to model a coffee mug, complete with text branding:

We’ll make a ‘hole’ in the mug to create a design that could be 3D printed or used in a 3D environment or game:

We’ll ‘trace’ a 2D image of a Space Invader in Kenney Shape to create a 3D ‘voxel’ object…

…while having fun with ‘Grandpa’ Invader and Kenney Shape’s built-in retro objects:

Finally, we’ll import our mug and Space Invader objects into Unity and start blocking out a 3D cafe scene!

This is a BEGINNER explainer series, starting with beginner-friendly software. You need to have a basic knowledge of using Windows and downloading and installing software to follow this series. Tinkercad and Kenney Shape are beginner-friendly programs. Unity is a complex application and is not recommended for new computing users. For introductory courses and videos for Unity, check out Unity Learn

Why would I do this?

The Unity asset store showcases thousands of assets, from sound effects to detailed 3D environments to complete games! Some assets are free and some require a one-off payment. We’ll focus on FREE coffee-related assets for this explainer 🙂

We’ll import a free coffee shop asset and import our 3D models. The scene can then be used as the basis for a video, animated scene, VR scenario or game environment!

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.

Good to know

The Unity Asset Store is an obvious place to shop for assets, but there are plenty of other sites that sell compatible 3D resources. Take a look at cgtrader, turbosquid and sketchfab. All these sites run regular sales so if you have your eye on a particular paid asset it can be worth the wait 🙂

This explainer is categorised as INTERMEDIATE level as beginners to 3D software may find Unity complex to use without support. Unity offers its own UNITY LEARN platform with lots of free and paid learning options to get your skills up to scratch in your prefered areas!

Watch ALL the videos in this series on pixelscoolTV!

Click below to view our dedicated ‘live’ streaming channel featuring all the video explainers from this series, back to back!

Where to next?

This is the final explainer in this series. Here’s some inspiration for what you can do next!

ADD ‘WALLS’ TO THE SCENE

If your cafe scene will be used for taking screenshots or recording video / animated footage, you’ll want to add walls and a floor! Here’s a quick, easy method to get started:

1: Create a new PLANE by selecting the GameObject menu, 3D Object, Plane:

2: Import an image or texture of your choice into the project, in the same way we imported 3d objects earlier in this series. I’ve imported two ‘metal’ images into the ‘retro objects’ folder:

3: Drag and drop an image onto the plane. The plane can be scaled and rotated like any other object. Repeat this process for all walls, floor and ceiling as needed to create the illusion of an enclosed space:

NOTE: This method is appropriate for updating the scene to use for video recording and taking screenshots. It is not a recommended workflow for updating a gaming environment.

TAKE HIGH QUALITY ‘SCREENSHOTS’ DIRECTLY INSIDE THE UNITY SCENE

Every Unity scene includes at least one camera (or you wouldn’t see anything in the viewport!). It’s easy to take high resolution pictures of whatever a specific camera is pointing at!

Download the FREE Instant Screenshot asset from Saad Khawaja from the asset store then view the short video below. We’ve used it for some of the images in this series!

VIEW THE SCENE IN A VR HEADSET

There are numerous ways to convert a Unity scene ready to send it to a VR headset. Our favourite VR asset is VRIF (Virtual Reality Integration Framework):

We used VRIF in our ‘Introduction to VR’ explainer series back in 2023 to explore and interact with a cityscape in a Meta VR headset!:

…and in a few days’ time we’ll revisit Unity and VR in a BRAND NEW two-part step by step workflow! See you in the Backrooms!

EXPORT THE SCENE AS A 360 DEGREE IMAGE OR VIDEO

Various assets are available to help record 360 images or videos directly from a camera in a Unity scene. As used in our ‘Showcase’ explainer series, one of our favourites is AT+ Videoclip:

This asset adds a traditional video editing timeline to the Unity interface, so you can use your video editing skills to sequence a 360 degree video (or regular ‘flat’ video) tour of the cafe! It’s how we recorded the ‘tour’ video below:

LEARN ABOUT TEXTURES AND MATERIALS

If you plan to continue learning Unity you’ll need to discover more about materials, shaders and textures. These are distinct concepts but intrinsically linked, and even a basic understanding of them will help you develop a coherent visual aesthetic for your work!

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 April 2023. This page was last updated in October 2026.

pixels.cool is 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 provides users with many ways to accomplish a task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to refer to multiple options. All computer users must run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise risks of data loss.

---

This is number 8 of 8 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you join us for the others!