5:15–5:30 #VRStorytelling Finds

5:30–5:45 Ben Farr Presentation

5:45–7:00 Getting to Know Unity

• Today you will create your first CGI scene. If you get lost, everything I'm showing is in this video tutorial so you can watch it after class.
• But first, let's see Harvest of Change, which Prof. Dan worked on at Gannett Digital.
• Walk through the Mac downloadable version.
• We'll look at the scene in Unity.
• Missed something? Check out the video tutorial.
• Sketch of today's tutorial is live here, updated weekly.

Time to get a tad more juicy! 

Your first scene won't be anywhere near as complex as Harvest of Change, which took 3 months to create. But all of the basic elements you pull together will be essentially the same. We'll go through the following steps together.

Sign In
- Use your free Unity account, which you can do here.

Create a new project
- Make sure 3D is selected
- Click Asset Packages and check these: Cameras, Characters, Environment
- Wait for everything to load

Make a Terrain
- GameObject > 3D Object > Terrain
- Texture your terrain. Inspector > Paintbrush > Edit Textures > Add Texture. Then select the Texture on the left. Add Grass and Rock or Sand.

Add a sky
- Find a free skybox in the Unity Asset Store (Window > Asset Store, then search for Skybox).
- Open lighting settings (Window > Lighting).
- Select the circle next to the skybox.
- Search for sky. Select the skybox you downloaded.

Add a First Person Controller
- Project pane > Assets > Character Controllers > First Person Controller
- Position the character controller so that it doesn’t fall through the earth. Hit play and move around.

Add lighting
- Game object > Light > Directional light.
- Move the light and character controller to the center of the grid.
- Move the light’s orientation and see how it affects shadows.
- Add a point light. Use coordinates in inspector to position it right where your controller is.
- Push Play and move around.

Add an object to the scene
- Windows > Asset Store and log in with your Unity account.
- Find a free asset and import it.
- Position the asset’s “Prefab" in the scene.

Model your terrain
- Click the terrain
- Inspector > mountain tools. You can reverse anything you do with mountains by holding down Shift while you click the terrain.
- Be sure to reposition your character controller or you may fall through the earth at play! And that’s no fun.
- Paint the mountains with a different texture

Add more assets
- Go through the Unity asset store and find more assets the import. Add at least 3 more.

Add some sounds
- Go to FreeSounds or SoundJay and download some Wave or MP3 files.
- Copy them to the Assets directory in the Project pane.
- Find the sound, then drag it to an object in your scene.

Build a Mac or PC standalone app
- File > Build Settings > PC,Mac & Linux Standalone
- Choose Mac or PC and click Build
- Save the file to your desktop
- Copy to a flash drive and then copy to your own laptop. You can run it from there.

7-7:15 Let's show what you've created so far.

Anyone who wants to show off their creation can connect to the big monitor via Airplay.

7:15-8: Work on Assignment 5

Assignment 5 is to create a cohesive scene. Due Feb. 23.

BONUS! Set it up for Walkaround in the HTC Vive

- Go to the Asset store and add the SteamVR plugin.
- Open your First Person Controller and select the camera inside.
- In the Inspector, click Add Component, then search for SteamVR Script.
- After the script is added, click the Expand button underneath it.
- Save Scene, and Save Project.
- Close Unity.
- Find the project folder on your computer and copy it to your flash drive.
- Bring that to the innovation lab and we'll load it up so you can walk around what you created.