Unity - Arkio

Importing models from and to Unity requires a Plus, Pro or Enterprise license. You can learn more about our paid licenses on our website and can start a free trial from Arkio to try this. The latest Arkio plugin for Unity can be downloaded and installed from the Unity Asset Store. Once installed a Tools/Arkio menu will appear on the top Unity toolbar.

Using our Unity plugin you can import your Unity scene with all the visible GameObjects and Prefabs. You can edit, move or add new geometry on this scene from Arkio and invite others to join you to collaborate on this scene from any device. Once you are done with your changes the scene can be exported back to Unity to update the original GameObjects and Prefabs to their new location/size and import the created or loaded geometry from Arkio.

Unity to Arkio on PC

Exports from Unity can be done to Arkio locally on your PC or to the cloud for easier uploads to mobile devices like the Quest or your phone. Once your Unity scenes are loaded in Arkio you can plan a meeting by inviting others and exploring designs with your team. You can export your current Unity scene with all its visible GameObjects/Prefabs by selecting Arkio>Export to Arkio PC. This will show a dialog that will ask you to save the scene (needed to store the element ID’s for round trips) 

Once the scene has been exported you can import the scene to Arkio using the Arkio PC client from the import panel tab in the Create tool. Place the Unity scene in Arkio by selecting “Locked at origin”.

This will place each GameObject and Prefab in the scene as an Arkio object so you can move these around. You can share this scene with other users and devices by starting a meeting inside Arkio.

Arkio to Unity on PC

You can export your Arkio scene back to unity using the export button found under your scenes tab.

In Unity, you can select "Import from Arkio PC" to browse to the desired exported file in the Documents\Arkio\Export\Unity directory. See the workflow chapter for more details on the update procedure.

Unity to Arkio via cloud

Cloud exports allow access to your files directly from Arkio on mobile devices like the Meta Quest or your phone and tablet. You can link the Arkio plugin using a 6-digit invite code generated on https://cloud.arkio.is/  that can be filled on "Tools>Arkio>Open Akio Cloud panel"

After linking, you can export your current Unity scene using the "Upload active scene to Arkio Cloud" button on the Arkio cloud Unity panel.

You can fill in the 6-digit group Invite code in Arkio in the Create>Cloud>Arkio Cloud tab. After Linking your latest uploaded scenes from Unity should automatically download and can be placed in the scene. More on this can be found on our Cloud import & export page

Arkio to Unity via cloud

You can export the Arkio scene to Unity from any device by linking both Unity and your device to the same cloud group (if not already done) And then export from the Scene overview with the Cloud export toggle on the top turned on

To import this file to Unity and update your existing scene, Open the Arkio Cloud panel and select the file to download and update in the scene. See the workflow chapter for more details on the update procedure.

Workflow and best practices

Using our plugin all elements visible in your Unity scene will be exported to a GLB file that will be used as the intermediate exchange file between Arkio and Unity.

• For optimal performance make sure the scene isn’t larger than 1000 GameObjects, 500K triangles, or has more than 50 textures
• GameObjects will be imported as individual Arkio objects
• Geometry inside a Prefab/Hierarchy will be combined into a single Arkio object
• If you have scenes with lots of segmented meshes it's best to combine the parts that belong together and you want to move in Arkio into one parent prefab

When exporting Arkio models to Unity we pack all the geometry and imported meshes and textures into a GLB file that can be loaded back to Unity.

• Newly added Arkio geometry will get the name (Arkio_...) and existing Unity GameObjects/Prefabs that made a round trip from Unity>Arkio>Unity will be named (Unity_…)
• All the geometry from Arkio will be converted to meshes with the materials and textures embedded
• The existing Unity geometry in the scene will be compared and updated by transform, rotation and scale to the re-imported Unity (ghost) objects. After this update, the duplicated ghost objects will be hidden inside the GLB prefab to avoid duplicates.
• Arkio primitive shapes painted with the Unity collider and trigger materials will have a script attached that hides the shape on runtime and can be extended with your own custom behavior

Special Arkio Unity materials

Inside Arkio you can create special geometry that will create collider and trigger areas when imported back into Unity. You can find these in the “Special” tab in the materials drawer.

The Unity collider material will convert the Arkio geometry to Unity colliders that could be used for various bounding volumes and the Unity trigger material could be used to draw trigger zones and shapes for Unity. The Unity materials can be applied to all Arkio base geometry in the scene. You can also select this material and then create new geometry using Arkio primitives.

Any geometry tagged with this special material will be visible in the Unity editor but become invisible at runtime through the use of a script attached to the game object. You can customize the behavior of this material by editing this script for your own usage.

Troubleshooting file issues

If you are experiencing problems with the Unity imports taking too long it's likely caused by the complexity of your scene for your device. The files need to be manually removed from the Import folder and resources for Arkio's resource system to operate as expected again.

Known issues

• Export supports a maximum of 2000 GameObjects. Avoid exporting scenes larger than 1000 GameObjects as it could lead to performance issues in Arkio on mobile devices.
• Custom shaders may not translate correctly to Arkio, use standard Unity materials if your textures fail to import
• Unity terrain is not exported to Arkio (Warning is shown when exporting terrain)
• Unity>Arkio currently only supports exporting of uniform-scaled game objects
• Round trips from Arkio>Unity>Arkio skip importing/updating Arkio originated solid geometry to prevent duplicates