Canvases, Panels, and Basic Layouts

Canvases are the core of all Unity UIs. Every single UI element must be included within a Canvas for it to be able to render within a scene. This chapter covers all that you need to create basic UI in Unity.

It's important to start focusing on setting up a UI that will scale at multiple resolutions and aspect ratios early on, as trying to do so later will cause a lot of headache and extra work. This chapter focuses on creating a UI that scales appropriately.

In this chapter, we will discuss the following topics:

• Creating UI Canvases and setting their properties
• Creating UI Panels and setting their properties
• Using the Rect Tool and Rect Transform component
• Properly setting anchor and pivot points
• How to create and lay out a basic HUD
• How to create a background image
• How to set up a basic pop-up menu