Basic Game Object

Manipulation and Transformations


Understand the concept of game objects and their role in Unity.


Learn basic game object manipulation techniques.


Grasp the fundamentals of transforming game objects in Unity.

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Content

Understand the concept of game objects and their role in Unity.

Learn basic game object manipulation techniques.

Grasp the fundamentals of transforming game objects in Unity.

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What are Game Objects?
GameObjects are the foundational components of a Unity game project.

“GameObjects are the fundamental objects in Unity that represent characters, props and scenery. They
do not accomplish much in themselves but they act as containers for Components, which implement the
functionality.”[8]

Every object in your game is a GameObject, from characters and collectible items to lights, cameras and
special effects.

2: Buttfield-Addison Paris, Manning Jon, Nugent Tim, Unity game development cookbook: essentials for every game, 2019
06/24/2025 8: Unity Technologies, Unity Manual, 2023
4
Hierarchy Panel - GameObjects - Nested
A parent GameObject has other GameObjects connected to it that
take on its Transform properties.
A child GameObject is connected to another GameObject, and
takes on that GameObject’s Transform properties.

A child GameObject moves, rotates, and scales exactly as its

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 Transforms
“The Transform stores a GameObject’s Position, Rotation, Scale and parenting state. A GameObject
always has a Transform component attached: you can’t remove a Transform or create a GameObject
without a Transform component.”[8]

1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022
06/24/2025 3: Geig, Mike, Sams teach yourself Unity Game development in 24 hours, 2014
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 Transform Tool
You can use the Transform tools on any GameObject in a scene.
When you select a GameObject, the tool Gizmo appears within it. The appearance of the Gizmo depends on
which tool you select.

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Transforms - Understanding 3D coordinate space

1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022
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Transforms - Understanding 3D coordinate space cont

1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022
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Transform Component in Inspector

1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022
06/24/2025 10
Understanding local vs. world coordinate space

Every game object in Unity has a position, but a position needs a reference frame. In particular,
Unity offers two ways to see (and set) coordinates:

World coordinates: These are absolute coordinates of where the game object is located (by
absolute, I mean with respect to the world frame, which is considered to be absolute in the game)

Local coordinates: These are the coordinates of where the game object is with respect to its
parent

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 Parenting and Child Relationships

“Game objects can be the child of other game objects. When a game object moves, rotates, or scales, its children
are affected as well. This means that you can create hierarchies of game objects that work together as a system; for
example, a car could have each of its four wheels as child objects, which means that they automatically stay in the
correct position as the car moves around.”[2]

TIPs: Before linking any child objects to it, make sure to reset the Trans- form options (Position and Rotation to 0, 0, 0
and Scale to 1, 1, 1) of the empty root object to avoid any oddities in the position of child objects.

06/24/2025 2: Buttfield-Addison Paris, Manning Jon, Nugent Tim, Unity game development cookbook: essentials for every game, 2019 12
 Pratice
In order to understand the moving of GameObject’s transform, use Unity 3D for this practice.

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 Pratice – Use transform tool to create 3D Objects
1. Add Capcule 3D GameObject. Rotate, scale it to make plane body.
2. Add Cube. Use React, scale, rotate and move tool to make airplane’s wing
3. Add two Cube. Use React, scale, rotate and move tool to make airplane’s fin and tailplane

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 Create nested object
1. Create empty 3D GameObject. Make sure the Position and Rotation values is 0 and Scale values is 1.
Rename this empty object to AirPlane
2. Drop all airplane parts to AirPlane.
3. Move, rotate and scale AirPlane object to check the transform of other airplane’s part
4. Reset Transform value of Airplane.

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Conclusions


Explored game object fundamentals and their significance in Unity scenes.


Learned manipulation techniques—selecting, moving, rotating, and scaling objects.


Mastered Transform component usage and understood coordinate systems' impact.


Grasped parent-child relationships' influence on object transformations.

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References
1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022

2: Buttfield-Addison Paris, Manning Jon, Nugent Tim, Unity game development cookbook: essentials for every
game, 2019

3: Geig, Mike, Sams teach yourself Unity Game development in 24 hours, 2014

8: Unity Technologies, Unity Manual, 2023

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