Unity 4.X Cookbook

Cookbook. From beginners to advanced users, from artists to coders, this book is for you and everyone in your team! This book is for anyone who wants to explore a wide range of Unity scripting and multimedia features and to find ready to use solutions to many game features. Programmers can explore multimedia features, and multimedia developers can try their hand at scripting.

Matt Smith was born in the UK in 1967. In 1980 (you do the math) Matt started computer programming (on a ZX80) and has been programming ever since. In 1985 Matt wrote the lyrics, and was a member of the band that played (and sang, sorry about that by the way) the music on the B-side of the audio cassette carrying the computer game Confuzion (wikipedia.org/wiki/Confuzion). After receiving his bachelor's degree in business computing (Huddersfield University, UK), he started looking for more “fun” in computing, leading to his masters in Artificial Intelligence (Aberdeen University, Scotland), and then his PhD in Computational Musicology (Open University, UK). Having run out of money after 10 years as a full time student he began his career as a lecturer and academic. He has now been lecturing in programming, artificial intelligence, and interactive multimedia for almost 20 years, holding full time positions at Winchester University, London's Middlesex University. In 2002 he moved to Ireland to his current college where he is now senior lecturer in computing at the Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown, Dublin. In the last few years Matt has introduced Unity-based 3D game development and interactive virtual environments subjects to his computing and digital media students. His current academic work involves investigating the use of computer games technologies to support teaching and learning, in the emerging field of “serious games”. Previously he worked on Java mobile phone gaming for the European SECASE project, and with a graduate student investigating mobile game multimedia content internationalization. To keep fit Matt took up the Korean martial art of Taekwon-Do (he developed and runs his club's website at maynoothtkd.com), and a group of his BSc students are now developing a Unity-based Taekwon-Do interactive “tutor” with Microsoft Kinect cameras. Some of his previous Irish-French student team games can be found and played at saintgermes.com (thanks for continuing to host these Guillem!). Matt was one of the two technical experts for a recent multimedia European project for language and cultural student work mobility (vocalproject.eu). Matt is currently struggling to learn Korean (for his Taekwon-Do), and Irish (since his daughter Charlotte attends an Irish speaking school and he doesn't believe her translations of her teacher's report cards). Matt's previous authoring includes contributions to “Serious Games and Edutainment Applications” (Springer 2012), “Musical Imagery” (Swets & Zeitlinger 2000 / Taylor and Frances 2012), and he was also lead editor for “Computer Education: An Artificial Intelligence Approach” (Springer 1994). I would like to thank my family for all their support, especially my wife Sinead. Thanks also to my students, who continue to challenge and surprise me with their enthusiasm for multimedia and game development.

Chico Queiroz is a multimedia designer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Chico initiated his career back in 2000, soon after graduating in Communications / Advertising (PUC-Rio), working with advergames and webgames using Flash and Director at LocZ Multimedia, where he contributed to the design and development of games for clients such as Volkswagen and Parmalat, along with some independent titles. Chico has a Master's Degree in Digital Game Design (University for the Creative Arts, UK). His final project was exhibited at events and festivals such London Serious Games Showcase and FILE. Chico has also published articles at academic conferences and on websites such as gameology.org, gamasutra.com and gamecareerguide.com. He curated and organized an exhibition, held at SBGames 2009, which explored connections between video games and art. SBGames is the annual symposium of the Special Commission of Games and Digital Entertainment of the Computing Brazilian Society. Chico currently works as a Digital Designer at the Computer Graphics Technology Group (TecGraf), a lab within the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), where he, among other responsibilities, uses Unity to develop interactive presentations and concept prototypes for interactive visualization software. He also works as a lecturer at PUC-Rio, teaching undergraduate Design students 3D modeling and Technology / CG for Games – in which Unity is used as the engine for the students' projects. I would like to thank my friends, family, and all who have made this book possible and have helped me along the way. Special thanks to Stefano Corazza, Anais Gragueb, and Oliver Barraza for their fantastic work at Mixamo; Eduardo Thadeu Corseuil, my manager at TecGraf, for giving me the opportunity of using Unity in our interactive projects; Peter Dam and Peter Hohl from TecGraf, and Paul Bourke from the University of Western Australia, for their help and advice on stereo 3d visualization; Aldo Naletto for sharing his knowledge on sound engineering; and my students and colleagues at PUC-Rio Art & Design department. Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my wife Ana and my daughters Alice and Olivia. Thank you for all your love and support.