When you put Model files in the Assets folder under your Unity Project, Unity automatically imports and stores them as Unity Assets. To view the import settings in the Inspector, click on the file in the Project window. You can customize how Unity imports the selected file by setting the properties on four tabs on this window:
A 3D Model can represent a character, a building, or a piece of furniture. In these cases, Unity creates multiple Assets from a single model file. In the Project window, the main imported object is a model Prefab. Usually there are also several Mesh objects that the model Prefab references.
A Rig (sometimes called a skeleton) comprises a set of deformers arranged in a hierarchy that animate a Mesh (sometimes called skin) on one or more models created in a 3D modeling application such as as 3ds Max or Maya. For Humanoid and Generic (non-humanoid) Models, Unity creates an Avatar to reconcile the imported Rig with the Unity GameObject.
You can define any series of different poses occurring over a set of frames, such as walking, running, or even idling (shifting from one foot to the other) as an Animation Clip. You can reuse clips for any Model that has an identical Rig. Often a single file contains several different actions, each of which you can define as a specific Animation Clip.
You can extract Materials and Textures or leave them embedded within the model. You can also adjust how Material is mapped in the Model.
Did you find this page useful? Please give it a rating:
Thanks for rating this page!
What kind of problem would you like to report?
Is something described here not working as you expect it to? It might be a Known Issue. Please check with the Issue Tracker at issuetracker.unity3d.com.
Thanks for letting us know! This page has been marked for review based on your feedback.
If you have time, you can provide more information to help us fix the problem faster.
Provide more information
You've told us this page needs code samples. If you'd like to help us further, you could provide a code sample, or tell us about what kind of code sample you'd like to see:
You've told us there are code samples on this page which don't work. If you know how to fix it, or have something better we could use instead, please let us know:
You've told us there is information missing from this page. Please tell us more about what's missing:
You've told us there is incorrect information on this page. If you know what we should change to make it correct, please tell us:
You've told us this page has unclear or confusing information. Please tell us more about what you found unclear or confusing, or let us know how we could make it clearer:
You've told us there is a spelling or grammar error on this page. Please tell us what's wrong:
You've told us this page has a problem. Please tell us more about what's wrong:
Thanks for helping to make the Unity documentation better!