Course Introduction

The Optimization Process

Profiling Tools

Welcome to 3D Art Optimization for Mobile Applications! In this introductory project, we will review the course's main learning objectives, discuss the practice of optimization, and identify the optimization tools available at your disposal.

Introduction/Optimization and Profiling

Geometry - Introduction 

Triangle and Polygon Usage

Level of Detail

Additional Geometry Best Practices

Demo: Level of Detail

Textures - Introduction

Texture Size, Color Space, and Compression

Texture Atlases

Texture Filtering

Mipmapping

UV Unwrap, Visual Impact, and Texture Channel Packing

Alpha Channels and Normal Map Best Practices

Editing Texture Settings

Demo: Texture Atlases

Shaders and Materials - Overview

Optimizing Shaders for Mobile Platforms

Transparencies

Additional Material and Shader Best Practices

Demo: Draw Calls and SRP Batcher

Lighting - Overview

Light Modes and Types

Lighting for Static Objects

Light Probes

Shadows

Demo: Baked Lighting

Conclusion/Next Steps

This project will highlight optimizations for 3D models that can make a game more efficient while maintaining aesthetic intent, improving the performance and experience on mobile devices. 

Geometry

This project will highlight the different implementation considerations and optimizations that take advantage of a Texture’s flexibility. When given the correct settings and applied correctly over their many use cases, Textures play a major role in achieving your desired visual effects. 

Textures

Shaders and Materials play a crucial role in determining how target hardware will process and render your 3D objects. In this project, you will explore best practices that will keep the shaders lightweight and fast when running on phones with limited resources.

Shaders and Materials

Lighting is one of the most important aspects of real-time 3D visuals. It can set the mood, guide interactions, and identify goals and objectives. In this project, you will learn about and compare the differences between the available lights and light modes that you can use in your 3D mobile application.

Lighting

ARMUnityMobileOptimization.zip

In this intermediate course, participants will learn how to produce performance-optimized 3D assets and scenes for mobile applications. Topics will cover tips on optimizing Geometry, Textures, Materials, Shaders, and Lighting. This course was created with technical artists and content creators in mind.

Arm & Unity Presents: 3D Art Optimization for Mobile Applications

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Overview

Who is This Course For?

How to Use the Sample Demos

In this tutorial, we will learn about what this course entails and how to work with the provided sample demo.


Unity for Artists Curricular Framework Resources

Welcome to Arm & Unity: 3D Art Optimization for Mobile Applications!

It’s often said that smartphones are supercomputers that we carry around in our pocket. As creators, we strive to develop helpful tools and immersive experiences that can be used on-the-go. While smartphones do give us access to impressive hardware that runs complex applications, such as 3D games, they do have their limits.

In this course, you will learn several best practices for creating different types of 3D assets and a high-level understanding of the profiling/optimization workflow for mobile development. Applying these lessons will result in faster and more efficient applications and a better experience for your target audience.

This course is aimed at emerging intermediate technical artists and content creators. It assumes you have experience working with the Unity Editor and a 3D content creation tool of your choice. 

Provided with this course are five sample demos that cover an important optimization from each section. These demos have been tested with Unity LTS 2019 (Unity 2019.4.10f1). You can download the project here.

When opening the sample project, you will be prompted with a README that gives you quick access to each sample demo. The Unity Editor is also custom tailored for these demos — the built-in Profiler and Frame Debugger views have already been docked in the Editor for easy access.

If you need access to the introduction README (Tools > Show Read Me) or each profiling view (WIndow > Analysis), you can find them in the Unity Editor’s menu bar.

Important Note: After downloading the Unity project that contains the sample demos, ensure that the SRP Batcher is toggled off. This feature is on, by default, in projects supporting the Universal Render Pipeline and will be covered later in the course. 

Navigate to Assets > Content > Settings and click on the UniversalRenderPipelineAsset to highlight its properties in the Inspector. The SRP Batcher toggle should be under the Advanced section. 

Course Introduction

1. Overview

2. Who is This Course For?

3. How to Use the Sample Demos

Complete this tutorial