Introduction
Welcome to the world of Unity 3D! In this article, we will walk you through the process of animating a simple 3D model using Unity. We’ll start by setting up our project and importing our model, then dive into the animation tools and techniques that Unity has to offer. By the end of this tutorial, you should have a good understanding of how to animate your own 3D models in Unity.
Getting Started with Unity 3D
Before we can start animating our model, we need to set up a new Unity project. To do this, go to the Unity Hub website and download the latest version of Unity. Once installed, open Unity and create a new project by clicking on "File" > "New Project."
In the "Create New Project" window that appears, you will be asked to select a template. Choose the one that best suits your needs, then click "Next." On the next screen, give your project a name and choose a location to save it. Finally, click "Create Project."
Once your project is created, you should see the Unity editor. This is where we will spend most of our time in this tutorial, so take a moment to familiarize yourself with the interface.
Importing Our 3D Model
Now that we have our project set up, it’s time to import our 3D model. To do this, go to "Assets" > "Import Package." In the "Import Package" window that appears, navigate to the folder where your model is located and select it. Click "Open" to import the model into Unity.
Once the model is imported, you should see it in the Hierarchy view. The Hierarchy is a tree-like structure that shows all of the objects in our scene. In this case, we should see our 3D model at the top of the hierarchy.
Animating Our Model
Now that our model is imported, it’s time to start animating it. To do this, we will use Unity’s built-in animation tools.
First, let’s create an animation clip. An animation clip is a sequence of keyframes that define the movements of our 3D model. To create a new animation clip, go to "Window" > "Animation" > "Create." In the "Create Animation Clip" window that appears, give your animation clip a name and click "Create."
Once your animation clip is created, we can start adding keyframes. Keyframes are the individual frames of our animation that define the position, rotation, and scale of our 3D model. To add a keyframe, simply select the object in the Hierarchy view and use the transformation tools to change its position, rotation, or scale. Then, go to "Window" > "Animation" > "Create Keyframe." In the "Create Keyframe" window that appears, choose which frame you want to create the keyframe on and click "Create."
Once you have added your keyframes, we can preview our animation by clicking on the "Play" button in the top-left corner of the Unity editor. This will play