Introduction to Unity Scripting Basics and Graphical User Interface - Creating Games with Unity and Maya - page 340

Figure 12.1 Interface with
GUITextures.

You can make these yourself if you'd like, or they can be downloaded
on the supporting web site ( http://www.Creating3dGames.com ) as
2DAssets.unitypackage and imported into your project via Assets>Import
Package>Custom Package.

A few notes about these textures for use in GUITextures:

• TheywerecreatedinPhotoshop.
• Thesizeofthetexturesareallpoweroftwo.Thebuttonsare512×128,
thelogois1024×256,thedatapanelsare512×512,andtheloading
plateis1024×1024.Althoughnotstrictlynecessary,cominginas
power-of-two textures makes the compression faster and keeps the
images cleaner.
• Eachofthetextures(exceptfortheLoadingplate)haveadistinctAlpha
channel (not just a transparent background in Photoshop).

Warnings and Pitfalls
Remember that
when bringing
packages in, always
use Assets>Import
Package—dragging a
package into your Assets
folder will not work.

Step 1: Make sure the assets are present in the project. They should be
visible in the Project panel. If you imported the 2DAssets.unitypackage,
they will be within a folder called 2D Assets.
Step 2: Open the Unity scene Scene-Opening by double-clicking it in the
Project panel. Remember that this is the scene we created earlier with
Aegis spinning.
Step 3: Organize the interface to allow the Game window to be clear
and large. If you have a dual-monitor setup, setting up the Game
window to fill an entire monitor is very helpful. Even if you don't
optimize by grabbing the Game tab and tearing it away from the
interface so that it is a floating window, resize the window to fill much of
your available screen.

Warnings and Pitfalls
When this 2DAssets
package is imported, you
are likely to get some
errors in relation to an
“Unknown identifier:
'iTween' ” This is due to
some things that we'll
work on later, so for
now, don't worry about
these errors. They'll be
fixed later when iTween
is brought into your
project.

Why?
Laying out GUI requires that the game can be seen. Making sure it's not
nested or squished within the Unity interface will provide a better chance
of getting the look of the final game upon construction.