Stunning Visuals: A Workflow for Artists

Course Description

In this workshop, participants will move beyond their foundational knowledge of Unity and deep dive into high fidelity capabilities of the engine. Participants will work with the new features in 2018.1 to create a futuristic racing game using assets created by Cybernetic Walrus.

After a brief refresher on key Unity terms and processes, participants will become familiar with more detailed aspects of lighting settings, and how to work with Reflection probes. They’ll then create the game’s vehicle controller, using Cinemachine to do all the heavy lifting of generating a dynamic camera.

Next, the participants will work with the Post-Processing and the new Post-Processing volumes to generate different lighting scenarios throughout the scene. Finally, they will complete the project by creating an opening cutscene with Timeline, and a dynamic sound track with the Audio Mixer.

Level

Beginner

Learning Objectives

Build complex and visually appealing Scenes in Unity

• Configure Baked Global Illumination settings to produce realistic lighting effects
• Create an environmental scene utilizing Prefabs
• Use reflection probes to increase the visual fidelity of metallic and other reflective surfaces
• Build a Player object using Prefabs and scripts

Establish a specific look and feel for the Project using Post Processing Effects

• Configure multiple Post Processing Profiles to represent different visual scenarios
• Create Post Processing Volumes to control different Post Processing Profiles throughout the Scene
• Create convincing visual effects to add realism to the Scene
• Use Unity’s Particle System to build Scene and Player effects
• Combine the use of scripts with Particle Systems to generate effects at specific times

Manage and fine tune multiple audio effects

• Configure multiple AudioSources to represent different Scene sound effects and background music
• Use the Audio Mixer to centrally manage all Scene sound effects

Create dynamic cutscenes

• Use Timeline to manage cutscene creation
• Use Cinemachine cameras to track and follow specific objects in cutscenes
• Configure Timeline Tracks to manage camera transitions and control scene activity

Prerequisites

• Prior experience with the Unity editor.

Activities

• Introduction: Learning Action Plan and course overview
• Developing a Scene
• Working with Lighting and Reflections
• Setting up the vehicle
• Working with Particles and Post Processing Effects
• Developing the opening cutscene
• Working with the Audio Mixer
• Conclusion: Updating your Learning Action Plan and next steps

What to Bring

• Each participant will need to bring a laptop (Windows or OSX), power supply (including any necessary international adapters), mouse.
• Install Unity 2018.1 prior to the workshop.