A quick-start guide to creating interactive 3D product and training experiences

Introduction

The development of real-time 3D industrial applications is, at heart, about making better decisions based on your BIM and CAD data.

Unity provides an ecosystem of tools and services that organizations can use to transform their 3D data into interactive applications like training apps, 3D designs, product configurators, and human-machine interfaces (HMIs).

These are powerful tools that our Industry customers rely on to create an incredible array of applications.

But it’s that very power that can also present a challenge.

What about individuals and teams that want to tap into the benefits of real-time 3D applications but don’t have advanced programming or technical art expertise?

The skillset barrier

Often, there are colleagues that are stuck between an organization’s library of static 3D assets and the advanced tools (and skills) that can create interactive experiences from those assets. Designers, trainers, and engineers can also help drive faster, better decisions with their own prototypes of automotive HMIs, product demos and configurators, simple training interactions, and more.

Do these challenges sound familiar?

• Are there colleagues in your organization who can play a bigger role in driving decisions and projects forward if they were able to prototype concepts for products, interfaces, and training in real-time 3D? Are you in such a role yourself, for example, as a CAD/BIM designer, artist, trainer, engineer, or other domain expert?
• Do you want to speed up the feedback cycles during the development of real-time 3D applications in your organization? Is it difficult to get feedback early on, or to get all stakeholders looking at the same view?
• Are you blocked from using your organization’s 3D digital assets because you’re stuck between tools that don’t provide the interactive features you need, and complex 3D development software that you don’t have the skillset to use?

Get unstuck and remove the barriers

This guide introduces you to a new member of the Unity Industry ecosystem, Unity Studio. Unity Studio is a web-based editor that helps teams create and share interactive 3D applications. It lets users import 3D data from their organization, build prototypes, and easily share them across devices for reviews and iterations.

There are no heavy software installs, and you don’t need to be an experienced C# programmer to use it.

With Unity Studio, you get:

1. Easy interactive 3D, without the complexity

2. Faster feedback loops

3. Seamless integration with your ecosystem

We’ll dive deeper into the features of Unity Studio, including how Unity Studio works with Unity Asset Manager, a cloud-based digital asset management (DAM) solution that makes the asset import process into Unity Studio seamless.

If the above challenges sound familiar, keep reading. You’ll learn about the top use cases for Unity Studio; how it works with asset management; its simplified interface; the key workflows to create your first prototype, and how to share your projects with colleagues and stakeholders.

Top four apps to prototype and create in Unity Studio

Let’s look at the most common use cases for Unity Studio.

1. Industrial products and systems

Prototype interactive demonstrations of industrial components or systems, e.g., to show operation flow and the key features of a machine. Then use these demos in presentations and reviews, especially when physical access to the product is limited.

2. Product configurators

Create customer- or client-facing product configurators that provide controls for options like changing materials, colors, and finishes.

3. Training apps

Create concepts of training applications for employees operating machinery and other industrial systems. Mock up how to combine visual cues, interaction, and UI feedback, and easily share your drafts with stakeholders for more efficient review cycles.

4. Human–Machine Interfaces (HMI)

Design prototypes for interactive dashboards and control interfaces for automotive dashboards, industrial control panels, and early HMI concepts that need to be reviewed and validated visually. This includes live data displays such as speed, status, or sensor values, camera views and visual feedback, and UI-driven interaction with a product or system.

How to get access to Unity Studio

Login and open Unity Studio

1. There is a 30-day free trial of Unity Studio available to everyone. You’ll first need a Unity account to access Unity Studio. On the Unity login page, select Sign in if you already have an account. Or enter your email and click on Continue to create a new account.

2. After you have logged in to your Unity account and downloaded the trial, open Unity Studio, which will take you to its Home page. The link to the Unity Studio app is here.

Note: If you have opened Unity Studio before, you should have direct access to it from the Unity Cloud dashboard.

Select your organization and open your first draft

You can create drafts in your organization’s profile, for example, if your team or enterprise already has a Unity Industry account or a Studio subscription. Every draft created within an organization is visible and editable by all the organization’s members with a valid seat. To set the organization for your draft, on the Unity Studio Home page, select your organization’s profile in the top-right corner.

1. To set the organization for your draft, on the Unity Studio Home page, select your organization’s profile in the top-right corner.

2. To create a new draft, select Create Draft in the top-left corner of the Home page. This will open the Create Draft window.

3. In the Draft window, you can now choose to start with:

• An empty scene: Select this option to begin with a blank project and build from scratch.
• A template: A template lets you explore Unity Studio’s features within the context of a typical use case, like an HMI or product configurator. See the section further down in the guide on the ready-made templates.

4. Set the Name to your preferred name for your draft.

5. Set Project to an existing project or create a new one:

• If no projects exist, add a name and select Create to start a new project.
• If you already have projects, select the project where you want Unity Studio to store your draft.
• If there are existing projects, but you want to create a new one, click on New, add a name, and click Create.

6. Select Create.

Understand the Unity Studio interface

The Unity Studio interface is a much simpler version of the full-featured Unity Editor. This makes it more approachable to people who are not experienced real-time 3D developers and technical artists.

Here are its different panels:

The Hierarchy: Organize all the objects in your scene

On the left side of the interface is the Hierarchy panel, which lists all the GameObjects (we’ll explain what those are further down) in your scene (the project as seen in the Scene view in the center) and helps you organize them.

The Hierarchy isn’t just a list of objects; it also provides you with a number of features, including:

• Main menu: This is located in the top-left corner of the Hierarchy panel (the “hamburger” three horizontal stripes icon). From here you’ll find options to publish, export, save, report a bug, and submit feedback. See a full list of the main menu settings here.
• Undo/Redo: Undo or redo recent actions.
• Publish: Publish your application on the web.
• Save Draft: Save the current state of your draft and add it as a new version of your draft in the version history.
• Add (+): Click on this icon to add new objects to your scene. This is one of two ways you can add objects in the scene; the other way is to drag and drop assets from the Project panel (see more information below).
• Search: Use the Search bar to find objects by name in the Hierarchy.
• Scene Settings: Select a skybox, update skybox settings, ambient intensity and reflection intensity:

Other key objects included in the Hierarchy:

• Animation Director: This feature lets you animate multiple GameObjects from the Hierarchy.
• UI Canvas: This is the area where you can place user interface elements like buttons and text.

Learn more about the Hierarchy panel here.

The Project panel: Store everything in your project

Running horizontally along the bottom of the Unity Studio interface is the Project panel. This functions as the library or “storage room” for your project. It’s here that you’ll save and store all the assets in any given draft: 3D models, images, materials, Logic scripts, animation clips, sounds, and textures.

The Project panel includes some folders to help organize your assets, including:

• Built-in Assets: This is a library of ready-to-use assets, including UI elements, primitive shapes, and lights.
• My Assets: This folder contains all the assets you upload yourself to your project.

Click on the Add (+) icon to add the following in the Project panel:

• Folder: Add a new folder to your project, which you can use to organize your files.
• Script: Add a new Logic script to your project.
• Material: Create a new material to use on your asset.

Learn more about the Project panel here.

The Scene view: Bring everything together

In the center of the interface is the Scene view. This is your main workspace where you can build your prototype, move around, interact with your 3D scene, and view how your final application might look.

When you create a new draft in Unity Studio, your scene starts with a few essential objects already in place:

• Camera: Use the camera to capture and display the scene from a specific angle.
• Plane: This is the flat surface at the bottom of your scene, which acts as the ground.
• Directional light: This lights up the whole scene, like sunlight or moonlight. You can change the light’s color and intensity in the Inspector panel.

Learn more about the Scene view here.

The Inspector panel: Adjust the important details

On the right side of the interface is the Inspector panel. When you select an object, the Inspector allows you to adjust details like size, color, and behavior.

To open this panel, select a GameObject in your scene or Hierarchy panel. The Inspector panel will then appear on the right side of the Unity Studio workspace.

Learn more about the Inspector panel here.

The Camera Preview panel: See how it looks before sharing

The Camera Preview panel shows what your scene looks like from the main camera's point of view. Use this panel to make sure important objects are in view and your scene looks how you want it to before you publish or share.

This Camera Preview panel is always visible within the Scene view. You can resize, expand, and move the Camera Preview to anywhere within the Scene view. This ensures the panel doesn't block your view of other panels and lets you customize your workspace layout.

You can move the camera around the scene in the same way you move GameObjects. However, the Camera component also includes two alignment actions that help you quickly match the camera's view to the Scene view, and the Scene view to the camera's transform. These help you position and frame shots precisely. Read more about camera alignment options here.

When the camera's view is minimized, click on the Expand arrows to open it. To minimize the panel, select Minimize (-).

Import assets into your Unity Studio draft

Importing assets in Unity Studio is straightforward and convenient, with the whole process accessible via Unity Studio’s web-based interface.

The backbone of asset importing in Unity Studio is the fully integrated Unity Asset Manager. So, before going over the first steps to adding assets to your draft, let’s take a brief look at Unity Asset Manager.

Upload, manage, share, and access your organization’s 3D assets

Unity Asset Manager is a cloud-based digital asset management (DAM) solution that streamlines how teams can upload, manage, transform, share, and access their complex real-time 3D assets.

It enables you to:

• Find your assets faster and more intuitively.
• Custom-fit its features to your and your team’s workflows.
• Optimize your 3D assets on devices across mobile, desktop, XR.
• Control your organization's data securely.

This guide does not provide an exhaustive, step-by-step manual for all of the workflows and capabilities of Unity Asset Manager (see the resources listed at the end of this section for more information). For now, let's look at a few key features of the asset import workflow in Unity Studio.

Unity Studio + Unity Asset Manager: Top features to know

1. Import your assets seamlessly into Unity Studio: Import any supported asset you upload to your organization’s Asset Manager directly into your Unity Studio projects. Similarly, you can upload new files from your desktop to Asset Manager via Unity Studio (see point 3 on file conversion options).

2. Host your assets securely on the cloud: Store all the assets you upload through Unity Studio in the cloud. Your files are safe, accessible from anywhere, and easier to share within your organization.

3. Optimize your industry files: Unity Asset Manager converts and optimizes complex industry files, like CAD, via Unity Asset Transformer, so they’re ready to use in your Unity Studio projects. This is available through the Optimize and Convert option described here. Your industry files are converted to supported asset formats, enabling you to visualize and interact with the assets in your web browser.

4. Boost team efficiency by sharing your drafts easily and securely: Your Unity Studio drafts and projects are also hosted on Unity Asset Manager, making it easy for anyone with the applicable permissions to access and edit these drafts.

5. Get version control for your drafts: The Asset Manager tracks different versions of your Unity Studio drafts. View version history, and if needed, delete the latest version to revert to a previous frozen state.

Now we’ll step through how to import assets into a Unity Studio draft.

1. In the Project panel of your draft, click on Add Assets. This opens the Asset Manager window. On the left, you'll see all of the projects within your organization. If you need to switch organizations, just use the drop-down at the top right.

By default, you'll always have access to the Studio Assets and Unity Industry libraries filled with high-quality assets to help you get started. When you select a project, all its assets appear. If a file isn't supported by Unity Studio, you'll see a notification on the asset and it won't be available for import. Unity Studio supports FBX, OBJ, and GLB files natively, but also supports a long list of other files, including CAD format.

2. To add new assets, click the blue Add button in the top-left corner of the main window. You can upload a single asset or multiple assets at once.

3. Click Upload to bring your assets in. Once uploaded, check the box next to each asset you want to import. Your selections will appear in a panel on the right.

4. When you're ready, click the Import button in the top right corner and give it a moment to process your assets.

5. All the assets you import are stored in the My Assets folder in your Project panel, making them easy to find and organize.

If you’d like to take a deep dive into the details of how Unity Asset Manager works check out these recent resources:

• The future of engineering with Asset Manager: Easily validate, navigate, and annotate complex 3D files
• Secure, scalable 3D asset management in your infrastructure with Unity Asset Manager and Virtual Private Cloud

Navigating in the Scene view

Now we’ll look at how to move around the Scene view, interact with objects, and use the tools you need most often.

Whenever you open a draft, a pop-up window appears that shows the basics of scene navigation. You can uncheck the Show on startup box in the pop-up window so it doesn’t appear every time you open a project.

To open it again when you’re in the Editor, click on the menu icon in the top-left corner and select Open controls guide from the drop-down list.

Practice camera controls

1. Move the camera around the Scene view using the W, A, S, D keys on your keyboard for forward, left, back, and right movement, respectively.

2. Use Q and E to move the camera down and up.

3. Hold the right mouse button and drag to rotate the camera's view.

4. Hold the scroll wheel (or middle mouse button) and drag to pan the camera across the scene. Note: This action might not be possible if you’re using a touchpad.

5. Use the scroll wheel to zoom the camera in and out of the scene.

6. Left-click to select an individual GameObject, or hold and drag the left mouse button to select multiple GameObjects at once.

7. With a GameObject selected, press the F key to focus the Scene view camera on it.

Interact with objects using the toolbar

1. Select a GameObject in the Scene view and a toolbar appears at the bottom.

2. Use the toolbar buttons, left to right, or the corresponding keyboard shortcuts (1, 2, 3, 4, Z, X) to switch between transformation tools:

• Free Transform tool: Freely move objects on multiple axes simultaneously along a surface.
• Move tool: Move GameObjects precisely along specific axes by using the gizmo.
• Rotate tool: Rotate GameObjects to change their orientation.
• Scale tool: Resize GameObjects; use the gray box in the center of the gizmo that appears in the Scene view to scale evenly in all directions.
• Toggle Handle Position: Switch between moving a GameObjects from its center or its pivot point.
• Toggle Handle Rotation: Switch between global (world space) and local (GameObject-based) rotation controls.
• Duplicate: Create a copy of the selected GameObject.
• Delete: Remove the selected GameObject from your scene.

Scene view quick actions

1. Select the Play button at the top of the Scene view to run your scene and test your work, then click on Stop to return to editing mode.

2. Select the Bug notification icon next to the Play button to view details about any warnings or errors in your project, and select Show to locate their source.

Learn more about scene navigation in Unity Studio:

• Scene view navigation documentation
• Scene view navigation video tutorial

Understand the building blocks for your project

Unity Studio uses the same building blocks as the full-featured Unity Editor, in a much simpler way. To get the most from Unity Studio it’s worth getting a good introduction to these foundational concepts and workflows.

GameObjects, components, and properties

GameObjects represent everything in your scene, including characters, props, and scenery. All objects in a scene are GameObjects.

Components are features you can add to GameObjects to give them specific functionality or behaviors. Components contain properties; these properties appear in the Inspector panel for a selected GameObject, which you can then edit to define the behavior of the GameObject.

A camera in Unity is simply a GameObject with a Camera Component. A light is a GameObject with a Light Component. This component-based system is simple, flexible, and highly scalable.

In contrast, project assets are source files that you add to scenes, like 3D models you’ve imported from the Asset Manager into your My Assets folder in the Project panel, as well as Logic scripts and materials.

There are two ways to add GameObjects to your Scene view:

Via the Hierarchy panel

1. Go to the Hierarchy panel.

2. Select Add (+), or right-click in the Hierarchy panel. A menu appears with a list of the type of objects you can add to your scene.

3. Select the type of object you want to add from the menu.

4. The new GameObject appears in your scene and in the Hierarchy panel.

Via the Project panel

1. Go to the Project panel.

2. Drag an asset from the Project panel into the Scene view.

3. Any GameObject you add to the Scene view from the Project panel via drag and drop will now appear in the Hierarchy panel.

To select a GameObject:

1. Go to the Hierarchy panel or select the object in the Scene view.

2. Select the name of your object in the Hierarchy.

Components available in Unity Studio

Let’s look at the components included in Unity Studio.

• Transform: Every GameObject has a Transform component by default. Use the Transform to change the object's position, rotation, or size.
• Colliders: Colliders define the shape of an object for physical interactions and to detect collisions, clicks, or touches. For the different shapes, refer to Collider types.
• Physics: Adjust how objects move and interact with gravity. You can set the mass of the object and choose whether it’s affected by gravity. 
• Animation: Add animations to make objects move or change over time. When you add this component, the Animation Tool opens automatically, which allows you to create and manage multiple animations for the same object. For more information, refer to Animation.
• Logic: Attach Logic to give your objects behaviors and interactivity. For example, make an object respond to user input or trigger events. For more information, refer to Logic.
• AudioSource: Use this component to play an Audio Clip in your scene and adjust its playback behavior.
• Light: Turn any GameObject into a light source. Choose among different light types (directional, spot, point), and adjust settings like color, intensity, shadows, range, and angle. Learn more in the Lights section of the documentation.
• Mesh Renderer: A mesh is a 3D data structure that defines an object's shape, acting as the "skeleton" for 3D GameObjects. A Mesh Renderer component and its settings for Materials turn it into visible graphics. Meshes are essential for rendering, animation (skinned meshes), and physics (Mesh Colliders).
• Skinned Mesh Renderer: Use this to render a deformable mesh. Deformable meshes include skinned meshes (meshes that have bones and bind poses), meshes that have blend shapes, and meshes that run cloth simulation.

Assets

You can import a variety of asset types into Unity Studio, including images and 3D models. Additionally, the Asset Manager can convert more file formats to a supported format. Which formats it can convert depends on your Unity account tier: If you have a Unity Pro subscription, Unity Enterprise or Industry license, or have a standalone seat of Unity Cloud Pro or Enterprise, you can convert many more file types. See the supported asset file formats and introduction to assets sections in Unity Studio documentation for more information.

Let’s take a quick look at supported file formats for free users.

Image formats

Unity Studio supports the import of the following types of image files:

• .png
• .jpg
• .jpeg

Supported 3D model file formats

You can import the following 3D asset file formats into Unity Studio without needing to convert them:

• .glb
• .obj
• .fbx

Unity Asset Manager file conversion

Unity Asset Manager can convert many more file formats to a supported format. As mentioned above, your Unity account tier determines which formats it can convert. All users (Free tier) can import the following formats into Unity Studio, via Unity Asset Manager:

• .fbx
• .glb
• .gltf
• .obj
• .pxz
• .step
• .stepx
• .stepz
• .stp
• .stpx
• .stpxz
• .stpz
• .usd
• .usda
• .usdc
• .usdz

Audio formats

• .wav
• .mp3
• .aiff
• .aif
• .ogg

Materials and shaders

In Unity Studio, you can use a range of controls to adjust the appearance of your models.

A material defines the surface appearance of a 3D object. It controls properties like color, shininess, transparency, and how the surface interacts with light.

Shaders

A shader is a set of instructions that tells Unity Studio how to draw a material on your object. It controls how the object reacts to light, how shiny or dull it looks, and whether it glows or stays dark.

Unity Studio doesn't support custom shaders. Instead, you can choose from four built-in shaders, each with its own options. For more information, refer to Shader options.

Work with materials in Unity Studio

Unity Studio provides intuitive controls for any user to add materials of their choice to an object and modify its appearance. You can edit the Material properties to define how your object's surface appears, for example, to mimic surfaces like brick, glass, wood, and more.

The Materials section of Unity Studio documentation provides all of the steps you need to create a new material, assign it to an object, and modify its appearance. In brief, here are the top capabilities to know about when working with materials in Unity Studio:

1. Create your own materials to achieve the look you want without modifying existing materials. You’ll create new materials via the Project panel. See the create a material section in the documentation for more information.

2. Assign a material to any object you want, as long as that object has a Mesh component assigned to it (which is easy to do). Get all the steps for assigning a material to an object here.

3. Edit a material, either from the My Assets folder in the Project panel, or from an object's Mesh Renderer or Skinned Mesh Renderer components that are available to edit in the object’s Inspector panel. Learn more about editing materials here.

Animation

Unity Studio provides the following methods to help you create animations:

• Animation component: Animate a single GameObject and its children.
• Animation Director: Coordinate and animate multiple GameObjects on a shared timeline for complex or cinematic scenes.

Both methods will open the Animation Tool window, from where you can create and edit animations for GameObjects using keyframes.

Keyframes are like snapshots of your object’s properties (such as position, color, or visibility) at specific points in time. When you create an animation, you set keyframes at different times on the timeline. Unity Studio then automatically interpolates the values between those keyframes to create smooth transitions.

See this tutorial to learn more about how to animate in Unity Studio.

UI

Use the UI Creator in Unity Studio to build interactive 2D user interfaces (UI) for your applications. You can add interactive elements like buttons, text, images, or input fields. You can also design interfaces that work across different devices and screen sizes.

Let’s look at the different UI elements you can prototype with in Unity Studio:

The Canvas

The Canvas is the base area where you place all your UI elements. Think of it as a blank sheet where you can place your buttons, text, images, and other controls. You can create multiple canvases in one project to show different UI layouts at different times. Every UI element must belong to a canvas.

To create a Canvas:

1. In the Hierarchy, click the + button to open the Create menu.

2. Select UI > UI Canvas. A new Canvas appears in the Hierarchy panel and the Scene view.

How the Canvas positions UI elements

Each UI element uses a UI Transform component instead of the regular Transform component. A UI Transform is a rectangular transform designed for 2D elements.

The UI Transform enables you to:

• Manipulate the UI elements: Move, resize, and rotate UI elements using the UI Transform. You can do this directly in the Scene view or enter specific values in the Inspector.
• Set the anchor: The anchor is where the element stays relative to its parent area (the canvas or another UI element). You can set the anchor to different positions, such as top, bottom, center, or corners.
  • Anchors ensure that your UI elements like buttons, text, and images, stay in the correct location and look good on different screen sizes or when the window is resized.

Text

Use the Text element to write and display text on the screen. You can customize the style, size, alignment, and color of the text.

Button

A Button is an interactive element that users can click to perform an action, such as start an animation or interact with an object in the scene. A Button contains a parent Button object and a child Text object (where you set the button's label).

Image

Use the Image element to add pictures or a simple rectangle to your UI as a background or visual element. You can adjust the size, color, and how the image fits within its area.

Input field

The Input Field element is an empty field that accepts text from the user. For example, you can ask a user to enter their name into the field and use their answer to address them by their name in the application.

Toggle

The Toggle control allows users of your app to switch an option on or off.

Slider

Add a slider bar to allow a user to adjust settings like brightness. You can add both horizontal and vertical sliders.

Logic visual scripting

Logic is Unity Studio's visual scripting system. It lets you use nodes to design the logic of your application, so you don't need to write C# scripts from scratch. You can use nodes to create interactive scenes, set up reactions to user actions, and control how your objects behave.

With Logic, you can:

• Trigger actions based on events (for example, when a user clicks a button or selects an object).
• Start, pause, or stop animations.
• Enable or disable GameObjects (show or hide objects in the scene).
• Create conditions (for example, if this happens, then do that).
• Combine multiple actions to create more complex behaviors.

You can create a Logic script from both the Inspector panel and the Project panel.

From the Inspector panel:

A handy way to add a Logic component to a GameObject is via the object’s Inspector because the Logic script automatically attaches to it.

1. Select a GameObject in your scene. The Inspector panel shows.

2. Select Add Component.

3. In the NEW LOGIC section, enter the name of your new Logic script.

4. Select Create and Edit, or press the Enter key.

To add a Logic script from the Project panel:

1. In the Project panel, select the My Logic folder.

2. Select Add (+).

3. Select New Script. Unity Studio creates a new Logic script in the folder.

4. Enter a name for your script and press Enter.

5. Double-click the new script to open the Logic Editor.

Learn more about Logic scripts in the Logic documentation.

AI screenshot enhancement

A handy feature is the AI screenshot enhancement, which can help add that last bit of polish to make your prototype or app presentation-ready.

This feature works best when you already have a solid starting point: A project where the light, interactivity, and overall mood are well-defined.

With a good foundational project in place, the AI Screenshot Enhancement option can then fine-tune lights and materials, helping you communicate your intent clearly and effectively.

Learn more in the Unity Studio AI Enhancement documentation.

Share and publish your prototypes

It’s efficient to share your work for review and feedback, whether it’s a work in progress or a polished prototype that’s ready to publish internally or hand off to your organization’s 3D development team.

Share a draft

You can share a link to a Unity Studio draft with colleagues in the same Unity organization as you. You’ll need to make sure that the person(s) receiving the link:

• Belongs to the same organization where you created the draft
• Has a Unity Industry seat if your organization is a Unity Industry organization
• Has the correct permissions to access the draft:
  • Organization or Project owners/managers automatically have broad access to drafts.
  • Non-owner/manager users need permissions granted by an owner or manager. For instructions, refer to Grant draft access to members of your organization.

How to share your draft internally with your organization:

1. Make sure you created your draft within your organization's workspace. You can't share drafts from your personal organization.

2. Copy the URL link of your draft from the browser address bar.

3. Share the link with others in your organization.

Publish a draft

To publish your application:

1. In the Hierarchy panel, select Publish.

2. In the Publish window, select the platform you want to publish to (only Web is currently available).

3. Enter a title for your project.

4. (Optional) Enter a password to restrict access to your project.

5. Select Publish.

6. If you want to share your application publicly, copy the Project Web URL and share it with others.

Learn more about editing a published project and unpublishing a project here.

Go faster with Unity Studio templates

Instead of building every interaction from scratch, you can leverage the templates included with Unity Studio. These preconfigured scenes already contain the logic, animation, and layout for common industrial use cases.

The following templates are available from the Create Draft window:

• Distribution Center
• Car Review
• Configurator
• Oil Pump Blocker Demo
• Training Application
• HMI Mockup
• Coming soon: Outdoor presentation

A few tips to get started with a template

1. Just like any other project you create in Unity Studio, you should give your template draft a logical and descriptive name. As your library of prototypes grows, a name like "Turbine Training Phase 1" is much easier to locate than a generic "Draft 1."

2. During this step, you will also be asked to choose a Project to store your draft in. A best practice for organizations is to create a dedicated project – such as "Studio Prototypes" – specifically for your Unity Studio drafts.

• This keeps your experimental work separate from production-ready engine data in the Asset Manager, making it easier for team members to find specific prototypes.

3. Start by exploring the template the way an end user would: Press the Play button at the top of the Scene view, test the UI buttons, move the camera, and use the visual cues to trigger any animations. This shows you what interactivity is already baked in before you begin making changes.

4. Take some time to study the Hierarchy panel to understand how the logic is constructed. To bring in your own data, use the Add Assets button in the Project panel to replace placeholders with your own CAD or 3D files directly from the Asset Manager.

Let’s take a quick look at each template.

Distribution Center

The Distribution Center is built on advanced Logic scripts and UI-driven controls. It showcases real-world interaction patterns such as robot control, camera management, and dynamic environment navigation.

Key features

• Robot navigation and control: Control a mobile robot using WASD input, with adjustable movement speed and rotation behavior.
• Camera and view management: Switch between multiple camera views to explore the environment from different perspectives.
• Interactive environment logic: See how to work with movable parts and scene elements driven by logic.
• UI-driven controls: Use UI options to control cameras, movement parameters, and interaction modes.

Get to know the template

• Start by navigating the robot using WASD controls. Adjust the speed settings to see how movement parameters affect responsiveness and control behavior.
• Explore the environment using the available camera views and observe how UI controls are used to switch perspectives and guide navigation.
• Interact with movable parts in the scene to understand how logic is used to control dynamic elements beyond simple animations.
• Inspect how camera logic, input handling, and robot movement are structured to work together as a single system rather than isolated features.
• Review how the UI is wired to scene logic, and note how the same control patterns can be reused to manage cameras, objects, or systems in your own applications. This modular setup makes it easy to extend the template with additional robots, tools, or interaction modes.

Car Review

The Car Review is a tool for designers who need to present 3D models with various lighting scenarios and controls.

Key features

• Pre-set navigation: Includes a set of positions and fixed cameras designed to showcase assets from various angles and enable movement around the model
• Interactive Door Logic script: Includes a specialized script and animations for opening and closing doors, which can be triggered via UI

Get to know the template

• Start by cycling through the pre-set orbital and fixed cameras, observing how they showcase the asset from different angles.
• Click on the doors to observe the open-close animation logic and script in action.

Inspect the Hierarchy inside the U Car GameObject; it’s here you'll find the door scripts attached to each moving part. Notice how the same click-to-animate pattern is reused across all interactive components. This modular approach means you can reuse this interaction structure with your own assets.

HMI Mockup

Use the HMI Mockup to prototype automotive dashboards, industrial control panels, or any screen-based interface.

Key Features

• Interface elements: Images used for showcasing gauges
• Screen navigation: Static scene that shows different possible animations

Get to know the template

• In the Editor, open the Animation Director to inspect how the wheels are animated, providing a template for how to handle rotating or moving mechanical indicators.
• Examine the UI canvas to see how images are utilized to showcase the gauges; you can replace these images with your own custom designs to quickly brand the interface. Use the Add Assets button to bring in your own 3D dashboard or 3D model.

Product Configurator

The Product Configurator provides a setup for presenting product models, with interactive configuration options like material swapping and component toggling. This template provides:

Key features

• Variant management: The logic for switching between different material sets or toggling the visibility of specific parts
• Product display: Provides camera and lighting presets focused on a central asset to highlight finishes and details
• Option menus: A UI system for selecting different colors, materials, or configurations

Get to know the template

• In the My Logic folder in the Project panel you’ll find the Room Manager Logic script. This controls how different environments or "rooms" are shown in the scene.
• Interaction is driven by the UIMaterialTypeManager, which connects UI buttons to show different objects in the Hierarchy. This logic dictates which objects are set to active or inactive based on the user's selection, allowing for real-time configuration changes.

Training Application

Use the Training Application template to prototype step-by-step instructional guides for machinery operation or assembly tasks.

Key features

• Sequence Logic: A flow system that guides users through a specific order of tasks or operations
• Part highlighting: Visual effects and outlines that indicate which components the user needs to interact with
• Progress feedback: Logic script that tracks and displays the completion of steps throughout the training session

Get to know the template

• Open the Training Menu Canvas UI in the Hierarchy and play around with the different buttons.
• Look at the Step 0 Logic script in the My Logic folder in the Project panel, which defines the start of the first step. All subsequent steps in the sequence can be found within the Hierarchy.
  Each individual step is defined by a logic script that controls the flow through specific animations and by activating or deactivating objects in the scene to guide the user.
• The Step 0 script also defines the start of the training sequence. Examine the logic step to understand how it triggers the initial robotic arm animation and cascades through each subsequent step. All steps in the sequence can be found within this hierarchy.
• Look at how objects are activated and deactivated throughout the training flow. Notice how UI elements, highlights, and interactive components are set to appear and disappear to guide the user's attention to the current task.

Oil Pump Blocker Demo

The Oil Pump Blocker Demo demonstrates mechanical assembly, internal component relationships, and fluid dynamics.

Key features

• Transparency controls: To show what’s happening inside the pipes
• Flow visualization: Animated arrow sequences showcase the direction of fluid movement through the pump system
• Animation control: Uses an Animation Director component to inspect the oil pump and arrow flow animations
• Animation flow script shows the click-driven sequence: Click the focus point; it plays the Move animation to explode the parts; hides the focus point for a clear view; waits 2.5 seconds; plays the Back animation to reassemble; makes the focus point visible again for repeated interactions.

Get to know the template

• The logic in this template is built around a simple interaction pattern: the focus point defines where the camera moves to and clicking that point starts the animation sequence that highlights the specific valve, which can then be interacted with directly.
• Open the Animation Director in the Hierarchy to inspect the animations bundled with the template; you'll find the Arrow Flow and Oil Pump animation sequences that control the fluid visualization and mechanical movements.
• Open the Animation Flow Logic script in the My Logic folder to see how the click-to-animate pattern is set up. Notice how clicking a focus point triggers the camera movement and starts the mechanical animation sequence.

Your next steps with Unity Studio

We hope you found this guide useful for understanding the key steps to getting a project up and running in Unity Studio.

To learn more about Unity Studio, visit the Unity Studio documentation.

For questions or direct assistance, please email unitystudio-support@unity3d.com. You can also request a follow-up call for more personalized support.

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Join top companies in manufacturing, automotive, retail, and more that use real-time 3D technology to gain a competitive edge, accelerate time to market, and optimize resources. From product visualization to simulations, Unity Industry powers immersive experiences.