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Learning Unity Physics
Learn to implement physics in interactive development using the powerful components of Unity3D
128 pages, Paperback
First published October 29, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 15, 2014
[I received my copy as a free review copy]
Physics is extremely important when it comes to game development and since I have been reviewing a lot of Unity books recently I thought it might be a good idea to have a look at Learning Unity Physics by K.Aava Rani.
The book is fairly short and discusses the main building blocks for incorporating physics into your game: from collisions to rigidbodies, from joints to animation. The material is accurate and the subject interesting but, unfortunately, the author doesn't seem to find her voice till the last chapter.
Each chapter comes across very dry and I couldn't help imagining it being read in the monotone of a bored professor. Well, except for the last chapter, "Optimizing Application's Performance Using Physics in Unity3D", in which the author seemed much more animated and interested in what she was writing.
The examples provided were part of the problem. I think had there been a bit more imagination used connecting the examples to some part of a fake game it might have raised more interest. As it was the clicking together of joints and matrices was just flat.
The book wasn't terrible and I did learn from it but I think the best use would be as a reference in conjunction with another book on Unity. Make use of the example right away to let yourself understand them better. In fact, this would probably work well as part of a larger tome tackling Unity as a whole.
Physics is extremely important when it comes to game development and since I have been reviewing a lot of Unity books recently I thought it might be a good idea to have a look at Learning Unity Physics by K.Aava Rani.
The book is fairly short and discusses the main building blocks for incorporating physics into your game: from collisions to rigidbodies, from joints to animation. The material is accurate and the subject interesting but, unfortunately, the author doesn't seem to find her voice till the last chapter.
Each chapter comes across very dry and I couldn't help imagining it being read in the monotone of a bored professor. Well, except for the last chapter, "Optimizing Application's Performance Using Physics in Unity3D", in which the author seemed much more animated and interested in what she was writing.
The examples provided were part of the problem. I think had there been a bit more imagination used connecting the examples to some part of a fake game it might have raised more interest. As it was the clicking together of joints and matrices was just flat.
The book wasn't terrible and I did learn from it but I think the best use would be as a reference in conjunction with another book on Unity. Make use of the example right away to let yourself understand them better. In fact, this would probably work well as part of a larger tome tackling Unity as a whole.
December 1, 2014
“Learning Unity Physics” by K. Aava Rani is a book about the wide variety of physics components that are available in Unity and how to use them. The book was written to work with Unity version 4.1; but I used the Beta of Unity version 4.6 and encountered no problems. As I write this review Unity version 4.6 has just finished the Beta phase and been formally released. There aren’t any files to download for this book. All examples are fairly short and should be easy to type in.
Chapter one is an overview of the physics components available in Unity. The engine has many colliders, provides physics for materials, joints, hinges and features several other types of components. This chapter lists them and gives a brief description on how they are used in games.
Chapter two details the variety of 2D and 3D colliders that are used and gives an example of each. Wheel and mesh colliders are also explained and examples are given. Examples of trigger colliders and compound colliders are explained.
Chapter three is all about three types of matrices. Unity has collision, trigger and layer based collision matrices. Useful charts are given that show how rigidbodies and triggers will interact with these matrices. A very nice example of a layer based collision matrix is presented.
Chapter four covers the two types of rigidbodies; physics and kinematic. Both types are discussed and an example is given for each. Chapter five covers joints and how they can be configured in Unity. Unity has spring, hinge and character joints and the chapter discusses each type.
Chapter six discusses using physics and animation. Unity provides physics for cloth animation. Unity also allows for constant force to be applied to an object as well as adding force and torque. Chapter seven provides several ways in which these physics components can be optimized to improve the performance of your game.
I enjoyed reading “Learning Unity Physics.” A lot of this information is available for free on Unity’s website and in the many other tutorials available for Unity. This books provides an easy way of accessing this information and also provides more detailed examples than those found in Unity’s excellent documentation. The book can be found at http://bit.ly/1wXpqiE
Chapter one is an overview of the physics components available in Unity. The engine has many colliders, provides physics for materials, joints, hinges and features several other types of components. This chapter lists them and gives a brief description on how they are used in games.
Chapter two details the variety of 2D and 3D colliders that are used and gives an example of each. Wheel and mesh colliders are also explained and examples are given. Examples of trigger colliders and compound colliders are explained.
Chapter three is all about three types of matrices. Unity has collision, trigger and layer based collision matrices. Useful charts are given that show how rigidbodies and triggers will interact with these matrices. A very nice example of a layer based collision matrix is presented.
Chapter four covers the two types of rigidbodies; physics and kinematic. Both types are discussed and an example is given for each. Chapter five covers joints and how they can be configured in Unity. Unity has spring, hinge and character joints and the chapter discusses each type.
Chapter six discusses using physics and animation. Unity provides physics for cloth animation. Unity also allows for constant force to be applied to an object as well as adding force and torque. Chapter seven provides several ways in which these physics components can be optimized to improve the performance of your game.
I enjoyed reading “Learning Unity Physics.” A lot of this information is available for free on Unity’s website and in the many other tutorials available for Unity. This books provides an easy way of accessing this information and also provides more detailed examples than those found in Unity’s excellent documentation. The book can be found at http://bit.ly/1wXpqiE
December 15, 2014
"Learning Unity Physics by K. Aava Rani" is a good book, but it is more suited for people who are new to "Untiy",
if you are new to Unity this book will give you all what you need to know, for now, to get you started with physics in "Unity".
I was expecting more about physics in the book.. maybe Ideas and techniques on implementing physics mechanisms but it is not in this book.
still .. if you're new to "Unity" this is a good book for you.
if you are new to Unity this book will give you all what you need to know, for now, to get you started with physics in "Unity".
I was expecting more about physics in the book.. maybe Ideas and techniques on implementing physics mechanisms but it is not in this book.
still .. if you're new to "Unity" this is a good book for you.
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