3 Ways to Share Unity Projects with Customers, Colleagues or Friends

Ulla-Maaria Koivula November 16, 2022

If you are a developer working on a Unity project, at some point you most likely want to share it with another user for feedback. If the other user has the same operating system and the same version of Unity on their machine as you do, sharing projects is relatively easy. But if the other user has a different setup, or they don’t have a Unity license at all, things can get a bit complicated. Here are some useful ideas and tips for easily sharing your Unity project with customers, colleagues or friends. 

Sharing projects with users who have a Unity license

Let’s say you are working on game development or a RT3D (real-time 3D) model for a customer and you want feedback and advice from a developer, game designer or colleague in another country. In this case, they have the same version of Unity installed in their machine as you.  What are the easiest ways for you to share your project with them?

Use Unity Collaborate

The simplest way to share your Unity project is to add the other user as a collaborator so you can share a workspace. Unity Teams has a free tier which includes 1GB of Cloud Storage to use with Unity Collaborate. Remember: For each person you want to collaborate with, you must assign them a Unity Teams seat in your organization. Here are some useful links on how to enable Collaborate for a team member,  allow collaboration on individual projects, and manage Unity Teams member access.

Zip and share files via OneDrive or email

Another way for you to share your project is to share the folders via a cloud service or email. If you go down this route, always remember to zip your files first. In addition to making the folders smaller, it’s good practice which avoids any file corruption. Do you need to zip and share all the files? Not necessarily. Most important are Assets and ProjectSettings folders. After zipping and transferring them to a cloud service, the other user can access the folder and download it to their device. Read more about exporting your project into another version control system. It’s also possible to send some or all of your files using Unity Package Manager: you can read more about how to do this on the Unity website here.

Looking for more development time optimization? 

You may be working on a project where you need to make multiple iterations in a short period of time and get concept level feedback as part of the workflow. In this case you may want to consider other ways for sharing your Unity project that will save several hours of waiting for files to compress and upload.

3rd party plugins from Unity Asset Store: ThingLink

The ThingLink Unity plugin offers an easy way for collaborators to see your Unity project from any device – without having to download the project folders and all their project files to a local machine and without any special configuration. The plugin lets you take 360 degree snapshots from any part of your project and share them as links or iFrame embeds. This can be used for sharing work-in-progress with clients or documenting your development work. With customers, use cases include virtual tours, safety drills and employee training. 

The two main benefits are 1) speed of sharing and 2) the ability for the other user to access your project on any device, including Android or iOS mobile phone, computer or even VR headset. Read more about the ThingLink Unity plugin here and also at our dedicated Unity plugin support page.

Other tips for sharing your new projects with users who do not have access to the Unity hub or Unity Editor

If you are sharing work-in-progress with customers or colleagues, you may want to improve the sharing experience with quick text or voice notes, questions or background.

Here is an example of a virtual model where a user has added more information about the functionality of the machines on the shop floor.

FAQs

• Do I need a specific operating system to use the ThingLink Unity plug in?

No – it will work equally well across all common operating systems including Windows and Mac (iOS).

• Does my collaborator need to know how to use Unity to use the plugin?

No – even a complete newcomer to Unity with no experience can view the project in ThingLink – one of the most intuitive and easy to learn platforms available. So no need to worry about sharing source code or walking them through opening the files!

New to ThingLink?

For an introduction to our super simple editor and interface, including step by step tutorials, take a look at our handy Support Pages. For Unity support please visit their support pages, or connect with their community which brings together Unity Answers, Unity Forum and other useful resources.