Understanding the Unity interface is easy.
The Unity interface is made up of five main windows:
The Scene view...
The Project window...
The Hierarchy window...
The Inspector window...
And the Game view.
At the top of the Unity interface is the toolbar.
The Scene view is where we will visually build our game.
The Scene view allows us to look at and directly interact with
the GameObjects in our Scene.
The Project window displays all of the assets we have available
to build our game with.
Assets are files that are saved on our hard drives.
The Project window gives us easy access to these files,
including our Scripts,
Textures,
3D Models,
AudioClips,
and other assets.
Our Scenes are assets as well;
and these are also saved and accessed through the Project window.
The Hierarchy window shows us a list
of all of the GameObjects we are currently using in our Scene.
GameObjects in this list can be moved
and rearranged to suit our preference.
GameObjects in the Hierarchy can be grouped together
to make GameObject families.
The GameObject at the top of each Hierarchy group is the Parent.
GameObjects grouped inside of the Parent GameObject
are its children.
The Inspector is a context-sensitive window.
The Inspector shows us all of the properties
of any GameObject or asset that we have selected.
When we select an asset from the Project window,
or a GameObject,
from either our Scene view, or Hierarchy window,
The Inspector displays the details and properties
of our selected item.
The Game view allows us to preview our game in the Editor.
By using the Play controls in the toolbar,
we can play test our game at any time.
The Play controls allow us to play,
pause,
or step frame by frame through our game.
The toolbar contains
the Transform tools and Gizmo toggles,
the Play controls,
controls for Unity Services and accounts,
and the Layer, and Layout menus.
The Transform tools allow us to navigate and manipulate
the GameObjects in our Scene.
The adjacent Transform Gizmo toggles allow us to switch
between center or pivot point rotation,
and Local or Global World Space navigation.
To the right of the Play controls
we have the Unity Collab, Cloud Service,
and Account Service controls.
These tools allow us
to upload and download updates to shared projects,
and manage our Cloud Service settings.
The Account dropdown menu provides a shortcut to accessing
our account settings on the Unity ID web page,
and allows us to sign in or out of our account within the Editor.
The Layers dropdown menu allows us to quickly show and hide
layers of content in our game.
The Layout dropdown menu allows us to switch
between different saved layouts for the Unity interface.
The windows in the Unity Editor can be easily adjusted and rearranged
to suit our needs.
We can create a new layout
by moving our windows into the new positions,
and we can store any new layout we create as a custom layout.
With the Layout dropdown menu, we can quickly return
to these saved layouts in the future.
So with only five main windows and a simple toolbar,
we can see just how easy it is
to navigate the Unity Editor interface.
For more detailed information on each of these windows,
please see the additional lessons linked below.