Designing and Preparing - Pro Unity Game Development with C# - page 22

Figure 1-22. Force Unity to display the Project Wizard on start-up
Note Using Unity to access projects and assets across networked drives is not recommended. Many
developers have experienced slow-downs and crashes in such circumstances.
Tip #5: Use FBX Meshes
Unity officially accepts meshes in an extensive variety of file formats, including Blend , MA , MB , MAX ,
OBJ and FBX , and others. These formats can be produced by a range of 3D applications, such as Maya,
3DS Max, Lightwave, Blender, Strata, Cinema4D, and more. Among all these file formats, however, two
main types may be identified: Proprietary and Exported . Proprietary files are those saved directly from
3D modeling software, using the common File ➤ Save command. Exported formats are those saved
using commands such as File ➤ Export . The ultimate purpose of both methods is to serialize or output
meshes to a persistent file, which can be opened and read by many applications. However, despite the
common aim, there are significant differences between the Proprietary and Exported files, which have
implications when working with Unity. The upshot is generally this: Always use meshes from exported
formats — specifically FBX (see Figure 1-23 ). Why should this advice be followed?