A basic tutorial on using 3-D Unity

1. Basics of 3D-Unity
And how to make a basic track

2. Controlling Unity
• The very basics of Unity is simply how to move around which is more
complicated than it seems.
• In the top left of the screen, you will see icons and the one we’ll focus
on is the hand. This moves around the scene without changing the
view of the camera. Alternatively, you can hold middle mouse to
move.
• To move the camera, you will hold right click and move the mouse in
a given direction, the mouse will also loop so there is no need to let
go if you move the camera a long distance. The icon at the top right of
the scene will tell you what direction the camera is looking.

3. Controlling Unity
Hand Tool
To see the
Direction

4. Adding Objects
• To add an object, you will first need to add assets . The one I will be
using are the MG-Karting from the Unity Website.
• After adding assets in order to add them to scene. To access the
objects, you will go to the bottom right of the screen to Assets.
• Go from Assets>Utech>MG-Karting>ModularTrackKit>Prefabs
• From the Prefabs drag any Prefab into the scene. For simplicity drag
the last one Called ModularTrackStraight.

5. Adding Objects
Where the Assets
Are Located
Drag this Piece
into the Scene

6. Progrids
• At this point I would recommend turning on Progrids to help with
viewing where the objects are.
• To turn on Progrids you will need to go to top of the screen and under
Tools there will be Tab called progrids. In the tab click on Progrids
Window and helpful window should pop up.
• Each tab does something useful such as turning on and off grid lines.

7. Progrids
ProGrids
Window
Opens
ProGrids
Window

8. ProGrids Window
This Tab Affects Object Snapping, Leave this alone for this Tutorial
This Tab Turns the Grid Lines On and off
This Tab turns Snapping on and off. Leave this on and this will be talked
about more later in the Tutorial
This Tab snaps all objects to the grid this is used for when new objects
are added.
This Tab Makes it show the grid lines of the currently selected
object if Unlocked or lock it to only show the lines of one object
This turns on the Grid Lines of the X Plane
This turns on the Grid Lines of the Y Plane and is most useful for
this tutorial
This turns on the Grid Lines of the Z Plane
This turns on the Grid Lines of every Plane

9. Moving Objects
• Moving objects may seem easy but in a 3-D space it can be rather
difficult so to start you’ll need to click on the object. Then make sure
the 4 arrows in the top right are selected. If not click on them.
• The different arrows pointing from the center of the object show
which direction you can move the object and by clicking on dragging
you can move the object in one direction.
• To move an object in more than one direction click on a square in the
middle of the object on 2 arrows will turn yellow. Then move the
object in the Desired direction.

10. Moving Objects
The box to
move the
object in 2
directions
Each arrow to
move the
object in 1
direction
Move
tool

11. Rotating Objects
• In order to Rotate an Object click on the Circular Arrows in the top
right. This should put multiple circles around the object. Click on drag
and each to rotate the object in a desired Direction.
• For more precise Rotation in the top right under Transform their will
be X, Y, and Z coordinates for rotation. Type the degree of rotation
from 0 – 360 degrees (or -180 - +180). For the straight rotations you
can do 0, 90, 180, and 270 degree rotation.

12. Rotating Objects
Circles of
Rotation
Coordinates
to Rotate

13. Manipulating Object Sizes
• To change the size of the object select the 4 expanding arrows in the
top right. Click on the object you want to change and 4 boxes going in
different directions similar to the movement arrows will pop up.
• Click and drag on the arrows to change the size of the object.
• For more precise size changing, similar to the roation there are
coordinates in the top right that you can edit. X will edit the Width, Y
the Height and Z the length.

14. Manipulating Object Sizes
Scale
Tool Scaling
Boxes
Scaling
Coordinates

15. Object Snapping
• Understanding snapping will be useful to avoid frustration with Unity.
To put it simply it makes objects only move along the grid 1 square at
a time.
• This makes connecting track pieces easier, move around the object
and notice the coordinates will only ever be in whole numbers.
• Objects added to the scene will not start out snapped so be sure to
click the snap object button on the Snap Grid window
This button

16. Building the Track 1
• To build the most basic track simple, to start place 2 pieces of the
ModularTrackCurveSmall on top of the straight piece. Putting on top
of the straight will put it on the same Y coordinate.
• Snap them to the Grid
• Rotate one curve 270 degrees on the Y axis
• Make sure every piece has a Y value of 1 on position and arrange
them to fit together.

17. Building the Track 1
Piece to
Place
Ensure
Rotation
and Y
position
are
correct

18. Building the Track 2
• Place another Straight on the bottom of the track and snap it to the
grid
• Then Change the scale of the Z to 5, if the piece starts to go into the
curve change the scale to -5. If this happens you will have to move
the piece back into place
We want to
prevent this

19. Building the Track 2
What the track should look like

20. Finishing the Track
• Select the whole curve by clicking and dragging of the whole area.
This selects only objects that are covered entirely. (if you select extra
objects such as the light or camera simply ignore them).
• Copy and paste the objects(with Ctrl+C and Crtl+V or Command +C
and Command+V on mac) They will be placed on top of the curve so
move them to the other side of the track.
• Rotate the top piece 90 degrees on the Y axis and the bottom piece
180 degrees on the Y axis. Then simply arrange them together.

21. Finishing the Track
Make sure you select
the whole thing
If you have trouble
selecting the one
curve select it here
Move it over
here

22. Rotate and you’re done!