Course Introduction

Unit 1 - Overview

Lesson 1.1 - Getting Started with Unity

Lesson 1.2 - Creating Your First Project

Unit 2 - Overview

Lesson 2.1 - Arranging the Editor Layout to Suit Your Needs

Lesson 2.2 - Creating Primitive Objects and Arranging Them 

Lesson 2.3 - Adding ProBuilder Shapes to the Set

Lesson 2.4 - Creating and Altering Materials to Establish a Look

Lesson 2.5 - Adjusting the Directional Light

Unit 2 - Creative Challenge

Unit 3 - Overview

Lesson 3.1 - Assembling the Set 

Lesson 3.2 - Creating Props with ProBuilder

Lesson 3.3 - Adding Basic Lighting to a Set

Lesson 3.4 - Exploring Emissive Materials

Unit 3 - Creative Challenge

Unit 4 - Overview

Lesson 4.1 - Creating a Timeline and Adding Keyframed Animation Tracks

Lesson 4.2 - Configure Generic Rigs and Add Animation Clips

Lesson 4.3 - Configure Humanoid Rigs and Add Animation Clips

Lesson 4.4 - Creating Dailies

Unit 4 - Creative Challenge

Unit 5 - Overview

Lesson 5.1 - Framing Shots with the Main Camera

Lesson 5.2 - Getting Started with Cinemachine

Lesson 5.3 - Using Cinemachine to Create Multi-Camera Shots

Unit 5 - Creative Challenge

Unit 6 - Overview

Lesson 6.1 - Adding Lighting to the Set 

Lesson 6.2 - Additional Lighting Techniques

Lesson 6.3 - Apply Post-Processing Effects to the Scene

Lesson 6.4 - Adding Post Processing Effects per Camera Shot

Unit 6 - Creative Challenge

Unit 7 - Overview 

Lesson 7.1 - Creating Visual Effects 

Lesson 7.2 - Working with Audio

Lesson 7.3 - Titles

Lesson 7.4 - Final Render 

Unit 7 - Creative Challenge

Final Project

Unit 2 - Quiz

Unit 3 - Quiz

Unit 4 - Quiz

Unit 5 - Quiz

Unit 6 - Quiz

Unit 7 - Quiz

In Unit 1, we’ll go over downloading and installing the Unity Hub, the Unity Editor, and creating a Unity ID. We’ll also cover creating a new project in Unity’s Universal Render Pipeline (URP). 

Unit 1 - Getting Started

In this unit, you’ll learn about previsualization in Unity by modeling a city based on a reference sketch. In the process you’ll learn about configuring the look of the Editor, working with Primitives, Probuilder shapes, creating Materials and adjusting lighting.  

Previsualization (pre-vis), is an invaluable process in the cinematic pipeline that allows you to quickly see how a 3D Scene will look before animation, filming, or asset production begins. A strong previsualization process gives a creative director the freedom to rapidly iterate ideas without reshoots or re-developing assets once a project enters production.

Unit 2 - Real-time Previsualization

Unit3_StarterFiles_2019.4.zip

In Unit 3, we’ll fast-forward to a more visually developed Scene in which you’ll learn to assemble an environment using more refined art assets provided by your creative team. You’ll model a new prop for the set directly inside Unity. You’ll add ambiance to your set with lighting and emissive Materials. Finally, in the Creative Challenge, you’ll use the provided props and new props you create to set-dress a new area of the Scene.  

Unit 3 - Environment, Modeling, and Set Dressing

Unit4_StarterFiles_2019.4.zip

In this unit, you’ll learn all the basics of creating animation in Unity using Timeline — from animating props to animating Generic and Humanoid characters. Then we will show you how to create dailies by recording your work-in-progress to an MP4. 

By the end of this unit, we will have created an animatic, which is a rough representation of a finished Scene. Think of the animatic as a "pre-animation," in which we’re creating the first pass of a more complex animated sequence from its bare essentials. In a professional production, this animation would then be refined in iterations until it’s highly polished. 

Unit 4 - Animation

Unit5_StarterFiles_2019.4.zip

In this unit, you’ll learn how to film animation by composing shots with Cinemachine, Unity's go-to cinematics authoring tool. You’ll then explore how to sequence, edit, and blend shots in Timeline and animate cameras. By the end of this unit, you’ll be able compose and capture multi-camera shots in Unity. 

Unit 5 - Cinematography

Unit6_StarterFiles_2019.4.zip

In this unit, you’ll learn all about lighting and post-processing in Unity. This unit is important because so much of the visual fidelity and ambiance of the project happens here. You’ll not only learn about lights but also shadows, important settings, and post-processing techniques essential to creating mood in your Scene and style in your camera shots.

To begin this unit, download the Unit 6 project from the Tutorial Materials tab.

Unit 6 - Adding Visual Fidelity Through Lighting

Unit7_StarterFiles_2019.4.zip

In this unit, you’ll learn about Unity’s visual effects tools, including the Particle System and VFX Graph. You’ll also learn how to work with sound effects and music. Finally, we’ll cover how to render a high resolution master version of your project. 

Unit 7 - Effects and Final Render

Scope & Sequence .pdf

Syllabus.pdf

In this introductory course from Unity, students will learn to create an animated Scene as they develop movie-making skills. During the course, students will progress through a series of Units with the instructor and practice their new skills with provided example projects. They will complete Creative Challenges and Quizzes for each of the Units to solidify and expand their learning. 

Students will learn how to create Scenes, design sets, animate characters, move cameras, set up lighting, create special effects, add audio, add titles, and render their work — all without having to write a single line of code. The foundational skills they’ll develop around 3D modeling, environment creation, animation, and cinematography align with technical objectives and best practices employed by proficient Unity developers. Students will progress from being beginners with little or no experience to capable Unity developers. By the end of the course, they will be presented with a Final Project challenge to create an open-ended personal project that demonstrates their new Unity skills. Students will then be ready to confidently apply those skills to create their own animated movie. 

In this official course from Unity, you will learn Real-time Animated Storytelling, allowing you to create your own 3D animations with cutting-edge technology. During the course, you will develop pre-visualization skills, learn to create an environment and props, animate characters, film a story, and refine your Scene with lighting and effects. As an artist and storyteller, you will learn how to leverage one of the most powerful new technologies to bring your ideas to life in real-time. 

As you complete the creative challenges and develop your own project, you’ll be able to share your new skills in our gallery and in your portfolio. 

Whether you’re a student who wants to be at the forefront of the entertainment industry, or a professional looking to upskill, by the end of this course you will have developed in-demand animation skills to make you stand out from the crowd. 

The 3D assets for this course were generously provided by our partner, Synty Studios, and are not for commercial use. If you would like to use any of the 3D assets from this course in commercial projects, please purchase one of the asset packs from Synty Studios’ 

Course Introduction

1. Welcome!

Complete this tutorial