Lesson 1 | Planning your 3D Gallery Project

Many learners are introduced to Unity for the first time by making games, but as real-time 3D development is used across a vast range of industries, it’s important for learners to understand that they can use Unity to create much more than games!

In this project, you will create a simple interactive experience from scratch, based on an immersive 3D gallery in which you can display any elements you choose. You’re free to follow our demonstrations and use our assets, and modify your project according to your experience level, comfort and interests.

You will create a “scene” in Unity, and add a premade first-person controller imported from the Unity Asset Store.

Please note: This project is adapted from the Unity for Educators course, and was originally intended to be a gallery for teachers to display student work. You may use your 3D gallery to display whatever you want!

Watch the video below to learn about this project and how to begin.

Think about how your 3D gallery project could be adapted. For instance, it could become:

• A collection of your work
• An escape room with hidden clues
• A memory palace based on a topic of study
• A VR game or art installation

The opportunities to personalize this project are endless.

In these next steps, you’ll explore three tutorials that demonstrate how to:

1. Navigate the Unity interface
2. Organize and create a new Unity project
3. Add a primitive (a simple shape) to your project to create a simple player controller

1. In the “Projects” tab in Unity Hub, click “New”, and select “3D”
2. Give your project a name, select a save location and click “Create”
3. Wait while Unity builds a blank project
4. Once the project is loaded, explore the tools in the top left of the Unity interface that will allow you to move around your project, and use the Q-W-E-R-T-Y keys as shortcuts (use our Unity Interface Guide for more tips)
5. In the Hierarchy panel in the top left, locate the Main Camera and the Directional Light objects
6. Click between the Scene view and the Game view
7. Locate the Inspector panel on the right
8. Locate the Project panel on the lower left

1. From the top left menu, click on GameObject > 3D Object > Cube
2. With the cube selected, increase its size by setting the X and Z scale values to 40 in the Inspector Panel
3. Click on the Game view to see that the cube has become wide and flat, forming the shape we will use as our ground plane

In order to move around your project, you’ll need to add a “first-person controller”, which will be a stand-in for the user in your 3D space. The controller we have chosen for this project can be found and imported from the Unity Asset Store, as described below. This asset, like all other assets used in the 3D Gallery Project, is free.The Unity Asset Store is home to a growing library of free and commercial assets. It contains everything from textures, models and animations, to whole-project examples, tutorials and ideas for extending projects. You can access the Unity Asset Store online or within the Unity app.

1. Next to the Game view tab, select the Asset Store tab (if you do not see this tab, click Window > Asset Store from the top menu)
2. Search for “first person all-in-one”, click Download and accept the terms of service agreement, then click Import
3. Click Import on the “Import Unity Package” window that opens
4. Click on the Scene view and find the “First Person AIO Pack” in the “Assets” folder in your Project panel
5. In the Project panel, open Assets > FirstPerson AIO Pack > DemoScene > Scene, then double-click on “Demo.unity” to open it (you will be prompted to save your personal project scene in progress. Do so!)
6. Click Play to try out the demo scene, then press Esc and click Play again to stop the demo scene (or use CTRL/CMD + P)
7. Go back to your personal project scene by clicking File > Open Scene and finding where you saved it
8. With your project open, go back to the Project panel and open First Person AIO Pack > First Person AIO, then drag the “FirstPerson-AIO” object (the blue cube) into the Hierarchy on the left-hand side of the Unity editor
9. Since the “FirstPerson-AIO” object already includes a Camera, Right-Click > Delete the Main Camera within the Hierarchy
10. Click Play at the top of the user interface (or use shortcut CMD/CTRL + P) to allow the user to look around with the mouse, and walk around with either the W-A-S-D or Arrow keys
11. Use shortcut CMD/CTRL + P to exit the play mode
12. Important: Remember to save your project with File > Save

Before you move on, why not download our Unity Shortcuts resource? It covers some of the basic keyboard command shortcuts for Unity, so you may wish to give it to your students. You can also check out the Unity manual for more shortcuts. This can be particularly useful for users and students with extra mobility needs, and when paired with some adaptive tech it can allow more people access to the tools!

Pause. Now that you’ve started your project, added a “primitive” and imported a first-person controller from the Asset Store, you’re ready to create a much more interesting 3D gallery space for the user to explore, which we will do in Week 3. For now, pause your personal project to reflect on your work.

Before you move on, please ensure that you have saved your project ready for further development next week.

There is nothing more frustrating than losing your work. Unity will not automatically save your work. You and your students must remember to save frequently. You can do this by selecting File > Save or CTRL/CMD + S.

Get in the habit of saving frequently!