Unity 3D Basics: UI, Package, and Assets Import
Learn to manage packages and assets in Unity, and get introduced to UI design.
We'll cover the following...
Creating a user interface in Unity
Users usually use a user interface (UI) to interact in 2D or 3D games. This UI provides a way to interact with the game. Unity has three distinct systems for creating UI. This section will explore the Unity UI system, an embedded feature for adding UI elements.
Components in UI
We can use a wide range of UI components in our projects. Here are some UI components.
Note: Whenever we add any UI component, Canvas is added with it as a default parent component.
Rect Transform
We’re familiar with the UI components located in the Unity Editor. Now, let’s look at the essential default component attached to them. Rect Transform acts similarly to the Transform of other components.
Rect Transform will be our go-to tool to move or modify a UI element.
Canvas
To present UI elements on a screen, a Canvas is necessary. The Canvas is a parent component for all UI components and is where the elements must be displayed.
Render modes
It’s important to properly display the UI in the scene. With the help of the different render modes offered in the Canvas settings, we can configure the rendering position. There are three default render modes available, and we’ll explain each in detail.
Screen Space - Overlay
In Screen Space - Overlay mode, Unity renders the UI over the scene. To illustrate this, we created a demo. In this demo, we added a button control with the default Canvas. Then, we placed a cube directly in front of the camera.
When we run the scene, we get the button in front of the cube, demonstrating that the UI is rendered over the scene, therefore making the Canvas an overlay on the Screen Space.