Designing and Preparing - Pro Unity Game Development with C# - page 13

Note To create the CMOD interface layout, I began by selecting the Default layout to restore the UI
defaults. To do that, select Layout ➤ Default from the top-right menu in the Unity Editor. Afterward,
additional windows can be opened and docked into the interface as required, using the Window menu. For
the CMOD layout specifically, open the following windows: Window ➤ Animation , Window ➤ Animator ,
Window ➤ Sprite Editor , Window ➤ Lightmapping , and Window ➤ Navigation . To save the completed
layout for easy reference, select Layout ➤ Save Layout… from the Layout drop-down (see Figure 1-14 ).
Figure 1-14. Saving a custom interface layout
The CMOD interface layout in Figure 1-13 consists of three notable panels or tabbed areas marked
by the letters A, B, and C, with the exception of the left-aligned Hierarchy panel. The arrangement
of these three areas is based on the principle of view-exclusivity. That is, the panels in A, B and C
have been divided this way because of how we view and work with them. Area A features larger
editors, such as the Scene , Game , Animator (Mecanim), and Sprite Editor windows. The reason for
their tabular arrangement here is largely because these editors work in combination with the Object
Inspector, as well as the Project panel and Hierarchy panels—and other editors in Groups B and C.
We'll often want to open Group A editors side by side with the Object Inspector. So we don't want
them tabbed with it. The same rationale applies to other editors in group B too. We'll often view
these in combination with editors in Group A and C, but hardly ever with others in group B. Then
finally there's Group C. These editors work much like those in B, because we'll often view them in
combination with Group A. But unlike Group B editors, they are read and understood more intuitively
when read horizontally (left-and-right) as opposed to vertically (up-and-down), such as the animation
timeline window, or the Project panel.