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Unigine Basics
1. Introduction
1.1. What is an 'Engine'? How Games and 3D-Applications Are Made?
1.2. Getting Started with UNIGINE
1.3. Getting to Know UnigineEditor
1.4. Content in Your Projects
2. Managing Virtual Worlds
2.1. World Structure and Built-In Objects
2.2. Instancing Objects
2.3. World Settings
3. Preparing 3D Models
3.1. Scene Geometry
4. Materials
4.1. Materials Basics
4.2. Working With Materials in Editor
4.3. Textures in Materials
4.4. Creating Your Own Materials
4.5. Working with Texture Editor
5. Cameras and Lighting
5.1. Cameras
6. Implementing Application Logic
6.1. Basics
6.2. PROJECT1: ArchViz
6.3. Working With Components in Editor
7. Making Cutscenes and Recording Videos
7.1. Animations With Tracker
7.2. Making Videos With Video Grabber
8. Preparing Your Project for Release
8.1 Building Your Application
8.2. Packing Your Files
8.3. Launcher Configuration
8.4. Removing Unused Assets
8.5. Copying User Files
8.6. Practice
9. Physics
9.1. Built-In Physics Module
9.2. Collision Detection and Raycasting
10. Optimization Basics
10.1. Performance Profiling Tools
11. PROJECT2: First-Person Shooter
11.1. Assembling a First-Person Setup With Controls
11.2. Shooting Implementation
11.3. Adding Visual Effects
11.4. GUI for Crosshair and Current Game Stats
11.5. Adding Enemies With AI
11.6. Health and Damage
11.7. Controlling the Game Process
11.8. Assembling the Final Build
12. PROJECT3: Third-Person Cross-Country Arcade Racing Game
12.1. Assembling the Vehicle
12.2. Setting Up The Camera
12.3. Implementing Vehicle Physics
12.4. Implementing Controls
12.5. Creating a Landscape
12.6. Implementing Gameplay
12.7. Assembling the Final Build
13. PROJECT4: VR Application With Simple Interaction
13.1. Developing VR Applications
13.2. Creating an Application Using the Template
13.4. Assembling the Final Build
14. Conclusion

Getting to Know UnigineEditor

In This Article:

You’ll create and edit virtual worlds for UNIGINE applications in an editor called UnigineEditor. It uses the concept of assets and offers all the necessary functionality for viewing and modifying virtual worlds. In UnigineEditor, you can easily add, transform, and edit built-in objects, materials, and other elements while also adjusting their parameters and global settings.

To launch UnigineEditor for your project find it on the My Projects tab in SDK Browser and click Open Editor:

The main window of UnigineEditor consists of tabbed windows that can be easily rearranged, grouped, detached, and pinned. The layout of the user interface can be customized to suit your preferences or specific work requirements. The default layout, which is shown below, provides quick access to the most commonly used windows.

A brief description of the main windows:

Main Menu

Provides access to common panels and commands that are used when creating virtual worlds. It has a set of options that allow you to:

  • Manage worlds.
  • Manage existing objects.
  • Create new objects.
  • Open viewports and tools.
  • Select a rendering mode.
Toolbar

The toolbar provides access to the most commonly used work functions:

  • positioning tools available in Object Mode
  • elements that allow you to control application logic, sound playback, and physics simulation
  • elements on the right side that provide access to light baking and shader compilation controls
  • additional controls for launching applications (in .NET API projects)
  • mode switch button on the left
Asset Browser

A tool used to organize content in your project. The Asset system maintains all relationships and dependencies between resources when you edit, rename, or move them within a project. It allows you to:

  • Create and import assets.
  • Organize assets: rename them, move them between folders, and manage their hierarchy.
  • View assets and add them directly to a scene.
World Hierarchy

The World Nodes window is a convenient tool for working with the hierarchy of objects present in the scene. It allows you to:

  • Organize objects into a hierarchy.
  • Find any object by name and quickly jump to its location.
  • Perform basic operations on selected objects (cloning, deleting, exporting, etc.).
Materials Hierarchy

The Materials window is used to organize and modify UNIGINE materials. It allows you to:

  • Get instant access to built-in UNIGINE materials.
  • Inherit materials and modify them.
  • Organize materials into a hierarchy.
  • Perform basic operations on selected materials (cloning, deleting, etc.).
Properties Hierarchy

The Properties window is used to modify and organize properties (sets of configurable parameters) and components. It allows you to:

  • Organize the property hierarchy.
  • Perform basic operations on selected properties (cloning, deleting, etc.).
  • Manage parameters for specific properties.

Scene Navigation#

UnigineEditor has a set of controls used to move around the scene and control the camera behavior, they can be found in the Controls section of the Settings window.

You can freely move around the scene: move the camera, change the direction (horizontally and vertically), move the camera in a plane perpendicular to the view direction, and zoom in/out.

Movements can also be linked to a reference point, which can be set by focusing the camera on a selected object or group of objects. In this case, you can rotate the camera and control zooming in/out relative to the current focus (when the focus is off, the reference point coincides with the camera position).

In addition to common terms (e.g. Move Left, Move Up, etc.), the following terms are used in the Editor:

  • Pivot means to change the yaw/pitch angle to rotate the camera around the vertical/horizontal axis respectively.
  • Tracking (Crab) means moving the camera in a plane perpendicular to the direction of view.
  • Orbit means rotation around the target point.
  • Zoom (Dolly) means bringing the camera closer to or away from the target point so that the camera cannot continue zooming when it reaches the target point.

The basic navigation controls in the editor are shown below:

Navigation controls used to move the camera freely around the scene

Additional navigation controls used to move the camera relative to the focus point

To focus the camera on the selected object (group of objects), press F, and to de-focus the camera, press G.

When you focus the camera on a group of subjects, you must set the pivot point (see the pivot point switch) in the main menu:

  • If you select Center (), the pivot point will be set to the center of the selection.

  • If you select Pivot (), the reference point will be set to the last selected object (Node 2 in the figure).

    The Pivot button is active; Node 2 is the last selected node

When you focus the camera on an object (or group of objects), the reference point will be set to the center of the object (or group).

Moving the camera#

You can use the following default controls to move the camera around the scene:

Combination Description
RMB + Drag

Change the camera direction.

  • Press and hold this key and drag the mouse to the left or right to change the yaw angle. In this case, the camera will rotate around its vertical axis.
  • Press and hold this key and drag the mouse up or down to change the tilt angle. In this case, the camera will rotate around its horizontal axis.
RMB + W Moving the camera forward.
RMB + S Moving the camera backwards.
RMB + A Moving the camera to the left.
RMB + D Moving the camera to the right.
RMB + Q Moving the camera down.
RMB + E Moving the camera up.
Alt + MMB + Drag Moving the camera in a plane perpendicular to the direction of view (Crab).
Alt + LMB + Drag Rotating the camera around the focus point.

You can also change the position of the camera by setting its coordinates via the Editor Viewport navigation bar as follows:

The following controls are used to zoom in/out of the camera:

Combination Description
Scroll Up

Drawing closer.
Scroll Down

Moving away.
Alt + RMB + Drag

Moving the camera closer to / farther from the tagret point (dolly).

Changing speed and using multiple cameras#

There are 3 camera speed modes. You can switch between them via the navigation bar (or using the 1, 2 and 3 keys). You can also change the speed value set for the selected speed mode. For example, you can change the value of Speed Mode 1 in the following window:

If there are multiple cameras in the world, you can switch between the respective viewpoints via the Camera dropdown in the viewport window.

Last update: 2024-01-18
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