Add furniture to the kid’s room

Make a bouncy ball

Make a tower of prefab blocks

Adjust the lights, background, and camera angle

3D Essentials: More things to try

Mission 2 Quiz

Unity Essentials: 3D Essentials Quiz

Design a kid's bedroom with a bouncing ball and a tower of collapsing building blocks.

In this tutorial series, you'll explore Unity's capabilities by designing a kid's bedroom scene with dynamic elements like a bouncing ball and a tower of blocks. You'll learn new skills in 3D navigation, object customization, and using Unity's physics system. 

You’ll also create prefabs, adjust lighting, and capture your scene with a camera. 

This foundational knowledge is vital to creating any type of Unity project.

3D Essentials

Unity Essentials Pathway

Master the basics of Unity with the Unity Essentials Pathway. Perfect for beginners, this free learning journey introduces game development, 3D content creation, and Unity's core tools. Start building today!

Unity Essentials Pathway - Learn Game Development for Beginners | Unity Learn

Unity Essentials is the perfect place to start for beginners to Unity. No previous experience is necessary.

New to Unity? This guided learning Pathway includes everything you need to get started.

Designed for anyone new to Unity, this guided learning journey is your first step toward creating confidently in the Unity Editor and bringing your visions to life. In this learning Pathway, you’ll design different rooms of a house, learning the essentials of one key skillset as you complete each room.

Unity Essentials

Unity Essentials: Install Unity

Open the Unity Essentials project

Explore the Editor Interface

Master 3D scene navigation

Pass the Scene view flying test

Design a mural in the Scene view

Editor Essentials: More things to try

Unity Essentials: Editor Essentials Quiz

Explore a playground scene and design a mural to get comfortable with the Unity interface.

This tutorial series introduces you to the essential skills of navigating the Unity Editor.


You'll learn to navigate 3D space in a playground scene, using Flythrough mode and tools like Move and Rotate to design a mural.


Once you master these skills, you’ll have the foundation required for confidently creating in Unity.

Editor Essentials

Create an immersive soundscape

Audio Essentials: More things to try

Unity Essentials: Audio Essentials Quiz

Add immersive sound to a kitchen scene with a variety of different types of audio.

In this Audio Mission, you will learn the fundamentals of implementing different types of audio into Unity scenes. You’ll learn how to set the tone with background music, how to add realism with sound effects, and even how to implement spatial audio in a 3D scene.

Audio Essentials

Add a movement script

Create a rotating collectible

Collect the collectible

Programming Essentials: More things to try

Unity Essentials: Programming Essentials Quiz

Add code so that a player character can explore a living room and gather collectibles. 

In this Mission, you’ll program a simple interactive experience where you control a character in a living room scene and move around to collect objects. 

You'll be able to choose from a variety of characters and collectible objects. In our example, we'll use a robot vacuum that maneuvers to pick up dirt around the room.

Programming Essentials

Set up a 2D room

Complete your 2D Puzzle Game

Add an animated pet

2D Essentials: More things to try

Unity Essentials: 2D Essentials Quiz

Create a top-down minigame similar to the 3D living room experience, but in 2D.

In this 2D Mission, you'll create a top-down 2D version of the interactive living room scene you created earlier. 

Just like in the 3D scene, you'll control a character, and try to collect all the objects in a room. By completing this scene, you'll learn how working in 2D is similar to working in 3D, but also how it’s different.

2D Essentials

Build your portfolio project

Publish to WebGL

Challenge: Add a bonus scene

Capture a video of your project

Share your project

Combine all of your scenes together into one cohesive portfolio project that you can share with others. 

It's time to collect all your good work together into a singular portfolio piece that you and others can play!

A portfolio, especially in the realm of real-time 3D (RT3D) and game development, is not just a collection of work, but a practical way of demonstrating your familiarity with essential tools and concepts. 

In this Mission, you will package all of your work from this Pathway into a single playable experience that you can easily share with others.


Publishing Essentials

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Overview

Create and rename a sphere

Edit the sphere’s scale

Position the ball in the air

Create and apply a new material

Adjust the material properties

Add a Rigidbody and test

Create and apply a Physics Material

Review the components

Add a Ramp and test collision

Add a Collider to the ramp

Review and proceed to next tutorial

Identify the defaults elements in a new scene, Create and manipulate GameObjects and configure their components.

Scene Building Essentials

NealEdu

Product Manager at Unity

GameObjects

lunaduranp

2.2.1 - Overview - ball bouncing - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.2 - Add and rename sphere - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.3 - Edit the sphere’s scale - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.4 - Position the ball in the air - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.5 - Create and apply a new material - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.6 - adjust material properties - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.7 - Add Rigidbody comp - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.11 - Add collider to ramp - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.10 - Add Ramp and test - VIDEO.mp4

2.2.8 - Create and apply a Physics Material - VIDEO_U6.mp4

Make a ball bounce off a ramp toward the corner of the room. 

Primitive and placeholder objects

Materials introduction

Use components

Rigidbody component reference

Create and apply a custom Physic Material

Introduction to collision

Games

Film

Automotive

Explain how primitives are typically used in a 3D Scene.

Describe the types of primitives available in Unity.

Import a premade asset into a project as a GameObject.

Add a GameObject to a Scene by dragging it from the Project window.

2.1 Define GameObject.

2.2 Explain how primitives are typically used in a 3D Scene.

2.3 Describe the types of primitives available in Unity.

2.4 Add a primitive to a 3D Scene.

2.5 Define Sprite

2.6 Import a Sprite into a Scene

2.7 Create an empty Sprite

2.8 Assign an image to an empty Sprite.

2.9 Import a premade asset into a project as a GameObject.

2.10 Add a GameObject to a Scene by dragging it from the Project window.

2.11 Add a GameObject to a Scene by dragging it from the Project window.

2.12 Create an empty GameObject.

Create GameObjects

Create and assign a Material

Change the Sprite Tint color

Control the appearance of GameObjects

Veronica Brown

 Implement basic physics for GameObjects 

Apply RigidBody or RigidBody 2D components in order to enable GameObjects to act under the control of physics

Modify the basic properties of a RigidBody or RigidBody 2D component in order to control how the GameObject is affected by physics, including its mass, its drag, and the Scene's gravity

Add a collider to a GameObject and understand its function

Create and configure a Physic Material to add physical properties to a GameObject

Employ basic physics for GameObjects

Work with GameObject components

Mission 2 - 3D Essentials

In this tutorial, you’ll create a ball that bounces off a ramp and toward the corner of the room. Eventually, you’ll build a block tower that the ball will crash into, but first you need to get that ball rolling.

As you complete these steps, you’ll learn how to create new 3D shapes, apply custom materials, and implement physics in your scene. 

When you’re ready to get started, go to the next step.

The first step in creating a bouncing ball is adding a simple sphere in the scene. 

Unity provides you with a number of primitive shapes that you can add, including a sphere, a cube, a cylinder, a capsule, and even a flat plane. These simple shapes can be used as building blocks and as placeholders for more complex models. 

Here, you'll create a sphere and rename it “Ball”, which will later bounce off a ramp.


1.  In the Hierarchy window, right-click in an empty area and select 3D Object > Sphere. 

Note: When you create the sphere, it may appear in a seemingly random location, which is actually based on the object you last framed in the Scene view. You might not even see the sphere after creating it. Don’t worry about its location for now! 

2.  Right-click on the new Sphere GameObject in the Hierarchy window, select Rename, and rename it “Ball”.

The ball is currently way too big — you need to make it smaller.

Scale determines the size of an object. In Unity, scale is relative to real-world measurements, where 1 unit typically equals 1 meter. 

Adjusting the scale of the ball to 0.25 in all dimensions makes it about the size of a standard kid’s ball — about one quarter of a meter in diameter, which is just less than one foot wide.


1.  Make sure the Ball GameObject is still selected. 

2.  In the Inspector window, in the Transform component, set the Ball GameObject's Scale to X = 0.25, Y = 0.25, and Z = 0.25.

Note:  You can also select the chain link icon next to the Scale properties to enable or disable constrained proportions. When this is enabled, changing one scale property automatically changes the other two by the same amount.

Now you’re going to position the ball high above the floor near the window so that it can fall to the ground and bounce toward the corner. 

Rather than using the Transform tools in the Scene view to drag the ball around, you’ll enter the ball’s precise position directly in the Inspector window in the Transform component. 

Every single GameObject in the scene has a Transform component, which controls its position, rotation, and scale. 

The Position values are measured in meters along each of the 3 axes (X, Y, and Z) relative to the origin of the scene.


1.  With the Ball GameObject still selected, locate the Transform component in the Inspector window 

2.  Set its Transform position to X = 2, Y = 3, and Z = -1:

X = 2 will position the ball 2 meters to the right of the origin on the X-axis. 

Y = 3 will position the ball 3 meters up from the origin on the Y-axis. 

Z = -1 will position the ball 1 meter back from the origin on the Z-axis.

Note:  You can tell which direction is positive for each axis by looking at the Scene view gizmo. The colored cones point toward the positive direction for each axis. 

The sphere primitive you added for the ball has a default material that is a very dull gray color — if it’s a kid’s ball, it should be more exciting!

Materials define the visual appearance of objects in Unity. Here, you'll create a new material in your project’s assets and apply it to the sphere. 


1.  In the Project window, navigate to _Unity Essentials > Materials.

2.  Right-click inside the Materials folder and select Create > Folder, and name it “My Materials”. 

This is where you’ll keep your custom materials.

3.  Inside the new My Materials folder, right-click and select Create > Material then rename the new material “Ball_Mat” (short for “Ball Material”). 

You have just created a new asset in the Project window, which means that this material can be used in any scene in your entire project. You’ve added a new custom asset! You can see from the Create menu when you right-clicked that you can make all kinds of assets, including scripts, animations, fonts, and more. 

4.  Drag the new Ball_Mat material directly onto the Ball GameObject in the Scene view, which should make it turn the default plain white material color.

Note:  Remember to save your scene often with Ctrl+S (macOS: Cmd+S). 

With your custom material now applied to the ball, you’re ready to adjust the material’s properties to your liking. You can customize the ball’s color and how it interacts with light in the scene. Creating materials can get very complicated, so you’ll start by adjusting just three key properties:

Base Map Color: The basic color of the object.

Metallic Map: How metallic the object looks.

Smoothness: How smooth the object looks. 


1. Make sure that Ball_Mat material is selected in the Project window.

2.  In the Inspector window, in the Surface Inputs section, for the Base Map property, select the white color swatch and use the Color window to choose a new color. 

Observe how your changes affect the ball's appearance.

3.  Adjust the sliders for the Metallic Map and Smoothness properties to your liking.

Now that your ball looks ready for action, it's time to bring it to life by simulating physics. 

To give the ball physical properties, you'll add a Rigidbody component to it. Without a Rigidbody component, the ball will stay at its current location in midair. But with a Rigidbody component, it will have mass and respond to gravity.


1.  Select the Play to enter Play mode and watch as your ball floats in midair. Select the Stop button to exit Play mode.

2.  Select the Ball GameObject in the Hierarchy window or Scene view. 

3.  Select the Add Component button at the bottom of the Inspector window, then enter "Rigidbody" in the search bar and select the Rigidbody component to add it to your ball. 

4.  Enter Play mode again and watch as your ball now responds to gravity and falls to the ground, then exit Play mode.

Important: You must exit Play mode whenever you’re done testing. While you’re in Play mode, no edits you make will be saved.

5.  After exiting Play mode, remember to save your scene with Ctrl+S (macOS: Cmd+S). 

Your bouncy ball's bounce is probably pretty disappointing. It behaves more like a bag of sand than a lively, bouncy ball. 

To make it bounce, you'll create and apply a Physics Material. Unlike standard materials, which control the visual aspects of GameObjects, Physics Materials govern the physical behavior of GameObjects, like how they bounce upon impact. 


1.  Right-click inside the My Materials folder, and select Create > Physics Material. Rename the new material "Ball_Physics".

2.  In the Inspector window, set the Bounciness property of this Physics Material to 1 for maximum bounce effect. 

3.  Drag and drop the Physics Material onto the ball in the Scene view. 

You won't be able to tell from the Scene view that you've successfully applied the new Physics Material until you test it.

4.  To observe the changes, select the Play button and watch as your ball bounces.

5. Remember to exit Play mode after you’re done testing.  

You have customized this ball a lot at this point. 

In this step, let's take a moment to review all of the components that contribute to the ball's behavior and appearance in Unity. 


1.  Select the Ball GameObject in the Hierarchy window, then examine the Inspector window. 

2.  Locate the Transform component. 

The Transform component sets the position, rotation, and scale of the ball. This is the only component that is required for every GameObject. 

3.  Locate the Mesh Filter component. 

The Mesh Filter component determines the shape of your GameObject. A mesh is a wireframe 3D model. In the case of the ball, the Mesh is set to a Sphere shape.

4.  Locate the Mesh Renderer component. 

The Mesh Renderer component controls the external appearance of the ball. Try to find the material you applied to the ball. When you apply a material, it shows up in this component.

5.  Locate the Sphere Collider component.

The Sphere Collider component defines the physical boundaries of GameObjects for collision purposes. Try to find the Physics Material you created and applied. 

6.  Locate the Rigidbody component.

The Rigidbody component integrates the ball into Unity’s physics system, giving it properties like mass and drag. 

Mesh Renderer component with the Ball_Mat material highlighted and the Sphere collider component with the Ball_Physic material highlighted.

In this step, you'll add a ramp that the ball can bounce off. 

The ramp has to be positioned precisely beneath the ball, which can be tricky if you’re viewing the scene from an angle. You'll see how to use framing to help with this.


1.   In the Project window, navigate to Prefabs > Shapes. 

2.  Drag the Ramp prefab into your scene and place it on the floor, approximately beneath the ball. 

3.  For precise positioning, select the Ball GameObject and press F to frame it, then switch to the top view using the Scene view gizmo. WIth the Move tool, adjust the ramp's position so it's directly under the ball. 

4.  With the Rotate tool, rotate the ramp so that the ball will bounce and roll to the back right corner of the room.

5.  Enter Play mode to test the interaction. Notice the unexpected result where the ball passes through the ramp, then exit Play mode.

Before moving on, try to guess why the ball did what it did. Is there a type of component that could fix this? 

You'll now fix the ramp by adding a collider component, which is essential for physical interactions in Unity. A collider is a component that defines the shape of an object for the purpose of physical collisions and interactions within the environment. Without a collider, an object has no physical boundaries and other objects can go right through it — like a cloud.

The sphere primitive you added earlier for the ball already came with a Sphere collider — that's what the Physics Material is attached to.

Unity provides various collider shapes (such as sphere, cube, and capsule colliders). However, since the ramp has an irregular shape, you’ll use something called a Mesh collider, which conforms to the unique shape of the object’s mesh (3D shape). 


1.  Select the ramp in your scene. 

2.  In the Inspector window, select Add Component and search for 'Mesh collider'. Add the Mesh collider component to the ramp. 

3.  In the Mesh collider component, enable the Convex property. 

Enabling the Convex property simplifies the collider into a convex shape, almost as if you were wrapping the object in some hard material. Unity needs Mesh colliders to be set as Convex to allow them to interact with other objects.

4.  With the Mesh collider added and set as Convex, enter Play mode to test the ball's interaction with the ramp. 

5.  Exit Play mode and save your scene.

Congratulations on making a ball bounce around your room in an interesting way! 

Here are some of the things you learned how to do along the way:

Describe the default characteristics of a primitive.

Make a new material in the Project window.

Explain the attributes a material adds to a GameObject.

Assign a material to a GameObject by dragging it from the Project window into Scene view.

Change the basic properties of a material.

Add a component to a GameObject via the Inspector window.

Explain the attributes that a Rigidbody component adds to a GameObject.

Make a new Physics Material in the project window.

Explain the attributes a Physics Material adds to a GameObject.

Identify specific components in the Inspector window. 

Proceed to the next tutorial where you'll add a tower of blocks for the ball to knock over!

Make a bouncy ball

1. Overview

2. Create and rename a sphere

3. Edit the sphere’s scale

4. Position the ball in the air

5. Create and apply a new material

6. Adjust the material properties

7. Add a Rigidbody and test

8. Create and apply a Physics Material

9. Review the components

10. Add a Ramp and test collision

11. Add a Collider to the ramp

12. Review and proceed to next tutorial

Complete this tutorial