Creating Assets

Assets Overview

Assets are the files that are available for use in a project and they appear in the Project window.

Assets are meant to be used for one or more game objects and information, values, and components can be seen in the Inspector when an asset is selected.

Where Asset Files are Created

New assets are created within the current folder, the uppermost being Assets. This Assets folder is located on your computer within your Unity project files wherever you designated Unity to create the project.

Create Assets Using the Menu

There are several ways you can create or add assets in the Unity Editor.

Menus below may vary depending on what packages and plugins have been installed.

To access menus, either click "Assets" in the taskbar or right-click in the Project window.

Default Menu

Secondary Create menu:

Click-and-Drag Method for Existing Files

Often, you'll have elements outside of your Unity project that you would like to add as an Asset. It's super easy to do.

Navigate to and open the folder where you want to add Assets in either the Unity editor or in your computer's file management (e.g. Windows Explorer).

Method 1: Select, click, and drag the files you want to add into the Project window. This will automatically make a COPY within your Asset folder. This is great for not accidentally losing assets when moving projects from folder to folder, but not so great for very large files on a small hard drive.

Method 2: Select, right-click, and drag files you want to add into your destination folder within the Assets folder on your computer and click "Copy Files." You can move the files, but this will often remove them from the source folder, making moving folders from one project's Assets folder to another's risky. After everything is copied, the files will appear within the Project window.

Duplicate, Copy, and Paste

You can use these short cuts with assets selected in the Project window. DO NOT use CTRL+D within your file management software. There, it will delete your files instead.

Shortcuts

Duplicate: CTRL + D Copy: CTRL + C Paste: CTRL + D

pageUpdating Assets