Book Image

Getting Started with Unity 2018 - Third Edition

By : Dr. Edward Lavieri
Book Image

Getting Started with Unity 2018 - Third Edition

By: Dr. Edward Lavieri

Overview of this book

The Unity game engine has revolutionized the gaming industry with its complete set of intuitive tools and rapid workflows, which can be used to create interactive 3D content. With Unity, you can scaffold your way from the basics and make make stunning interactive games. This book will guide you through the entire process of creating a 3D game, from downloading the Unity game engine to publishing your game. It not only gives you a strong foundation, but puts you on the path to game development. Beginning with an overview of the Unity engine and its interface, you will walk through the process of creating a game environment and learn how to use built-in assets, as well as assets created with third-party 3D modeling tools such as Blender. Moving on, you will create custom scripts to control non-player character behaviors and gameplay. You will master exciting concepts such as Heads-Up-Displays, mini-maps, game navigation, sound effects, and lighting effects. Next, you’ll learn how to create your first VR experience, right from setting up the project to image effects. You'll be familiarized with all the tools that Unity has to offer to create your own immersive VR experiences. Each section is a stepping stone toward the completion of the final game. By the end of the book, you'll have learned advanced topics such as cross-platform considerations which enable your games to run on multiple platforms.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Implementing reflection probes


Reflection probes capture a 360° spherical view of their surroundings. In this sense, it is somewhat like a camera. That captured image is used by nearby objects that have reflective materials.

To create a reflection probe, we select GameObject | Light | Reflection Probe from the top menu.

As you can see from the following screenshot, the reflection probe is a sphere and has captured the view of its surroundings. When objects are placed in close proximity to the reflection probe, the reflections will be visible on the object:

A review of a reflection probe in the Inspector panel, shown as follows, reveals several settings that we can change to affect how the probe works and how it impacts our game environment:

The following list of properties highlights the ones you are most likely to change in the Unity games you create:

  • Type: You can select Baked, Custom, or Realtime. Remember, we can improve game performance if we bake our lighting whenever possible.
  • Importance...