Unity’s Interface

Unity Version 2020.3.6f1

Before we set up our personal workspace there are a few Editor windows we must familiarise ourselves with. When you open Unity for the first time the most common windows will show up in their default positions.

• (A) The Toolbar provides access to the most essential working features. (1) On the left it contains the basic tools for manipulating the Scene view and the GameObjects within the scene. In the centre (2) are the play, pause and stop controls. The buttons to the right (3) give you access to Unity Collaborate, Unity Cloud Services and your Unity Account, followed by a layer visibility menu and the Editor layout menu.
• (B) The Hierarchy window is a hierarchical text representation of every GameObject in the Scene. Each item in the Scene has an entry in the hierarchy, so the two windows are inherently linked. The hierarchy reveals the structure of how GameObjects attach to each another.
• (C) The Game view simulates what your final rendered game will look like through your Scene Cameras. When you click the Play button, the simulation begins. While in the Scene view, you can also select the Camera in the Hierarchy window, it will show you a smaller preview of the Game view as long as you have the camera selected.
• (D) The Scene view allows you to visually navigate and interactively edit your Scene. The Scene view can show a 3D or 2D perspective, depending on the type of Project you are working on and allows us to position scenery, characters, cameras, lights and all other types of GameObjects.
• (E) The Inspector Window allows you to view and edit all the properties of the currently selected GameObject. Because different types of GameObjects have different sets of properties, the layout and contents of the Inspector window change each time you select a different GameObject. However you can lock windows by clicking on the lock icon.
• (F) The Project window displays your library of Assets that are available to use in your Project. Any file or asset related to your project will appear here.
• (G) The status bar provides notifications about various Unity processes, and quick access to related tools and settings.

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