I use several assets for my work as a freelancer and asset store publisher. Some of them are paid assets, others are free.
There are a handful of assets that I’m using in almost every project. I would love to share them with you, because these are free, and improved my workflow a lot!
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1. Cinemachine
Cinemachine is unified procedural camera system for in-game cameras, cinematics and cutscenes, film pre-visualization and virtual cinematography eSports solutions. Says the description in the Asset Store but why do you need this little asset gem?
If you have already worked with a camera in your project, you might meet with these problems:
- Setting up and controlling the TPS camera in the right way could be a pain to code.
- Multiple cameras on the scene for cutscenes, testing or any other purpose can take out of the control of your game camera.
- If you have multiple cameras on your scene, multiple Audio Listener would be the problem. Removing them are not always a solution.
Fortunately, this asset provides a smart solution for the latest two: virtual cameras. Virtual cameras are dummy objects with camera settings on them. Cinemachine will take the settings from this dummy object that is active, and update the real camera with it. Therefore you will need only one Camera in your scene.
You can use as many virtual cameras in your scene as you want. Cinemachine can switch between them in multiple ways.
It has a lot’s of features that will help you in your development: the Smooth Follow and the Free Look camera options are great for TPS games, and you can create them literally with a single click! Also, have a built-in solution for wall avoidance.
For more information, visit the Tutorials and the Documentation.
If you are using Unity version 2018 or higher, you can import Cinemachine from the Package Manager. If you are using Unity version 2017, download it from the Asset Store!
2. Post-Process Stack
Post-processing is the process of applying full-screen filters and effects to a camera’s image buffer before it is displayed to screen. It can drastically improve the visuals of your product with little setup time.
You can use post-processing effects to simulate physical camera and film properties; for example; Bloom, Depth of Field, Chromatic Aberration or Color Grading.
For better understanding let me show you a before-after image from our Dark Fantasy Kit.
I used a very subtle Post-Process here because I didn’t want to hide the details of our models, just improve the colors and give the full scene little more depth.
Post Process is a powerful tool for your game and very easy to use!
If you are using Unity version 2018 or higher, you can import Cinemachine from the Package Manager. If you are using Unity version 5.5 or higher, download it from the Asset Store!
3. Screenshotter
When you finished your beautiful scene, you want to share with others. You could start the game, press Print Screen, and paste it to Gimp or Photoshop and cut the taskbar from the bottom. I did this, and I’m not proud of it. It looked easy at that time, and I didn’t really consider the fact, it will result in a very low-quality image.
When I realized this mistake, I wrote a small code to be able to take a screenshot in a resolution I want. Lucky for you, I share this little script, so you can download, and import it to your project and add it to the main camera.
4. Unity Recorder
Presentation of your work in the right way is essential. My Screenshotter script helps you make a high-res screenshot, but if you want to make a good quality video from your game, you should take a look at this asset.
Unity Recorder is an Editor-only tool, so you can’t use it in a built version of your game. You can create 4K, 60fps videos with this asset. It’s memory intensive, so it’s best to create videos that don’t require user interaction, like the fly through video, I made for the Dark Fantasy Kit.
5. Mixamo Animations
This isn’t directly connected to Unity, but I found it extremely useful. They have thousands of motion captured humanoid animations for free to download. The quality of these animations is in a wide range of variety.
Perfect for prototyping and for placeholder animations. Some of them are acceptable as final animations too.
This video should help you how to download and import the animations from Mixamo to Unity.
+1. Sonniss 30GB Sound Library
I already wrote about the impressive amount of sound effects that Sonniss published. You can use this collection for free even in commercial projects.
What do you think about this assets?
Did you already know them? Do you have any asset that is free and you are using it a lot in your projects? Tell me in the comment section below!
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