Real-time 3D (RT3D) projects are becoming increasingly complex, demanding smarter approaches to asset manager and runtime loading. Developers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible, and as these projects grow in complexity and size, ensuring smooth performance and an exceptional user experience becomes more critical than ever. While Unity Asset Manager provides a comprehensive solution for organizing, managing and optimizing your assets, developers are still faced with the challenge of choosing the right technology for loading assets into runtimes.
Whether you're streaming content from a content delivery network (CDN), loading local assets dynamically, or managing memory through load/unload cycles, choosing the right asset loading technology is essential for your project's success.
Unity offers multiple approaches to runtime asset loading, each tailored to specific needs and project goals. This e-book aims to guide developers through the available options, comparing their strengths, and helping you choose the ideal solution for your project.
Runtime asset loading refers to how your application loads and unloads content while running. This could mean:
Let’s explore the different asset loading technologies and some examples of RT3D Industry projects best suited to each technology.
Unity offers multiple approaches to handle these scenarios, each optimized for different use cases.
At first glance, these tools might seem interchangeable. However, each one excels in unique scenarios, making them better suited to specific use cases. Picking the right technology comes down to matching a tool’s strengths with the needs of your project.
The key to selecting the right technology lies in understanding your project's specific requirements. Let's explore the factors that should influence your decision.
The Addressables package is a Unity-native system designed to:
AssetBundles is the underlying technology that handles the actual asset packaging and loading at a lower level; Addressables is a high-level system built on top of AssetBundles that provides a more user-friendly interface, automated dependency management, and simplified runtime loading. AssetBundles excels at managing complex game content. It is also optimized for a specific build target, Unity version and platform. They're ideal when you need:
Ideal use case:
A Unity game with a need for efficient memory management and loading times, with multiple asset types, and/or with regular content updates. The optimized assets don’t need to be shared across different runtimes.
Why it works: You can load content on demand via an asset’s “address” or via an AssetReference, and the Addressables system will automatically handle the rest for you, whether that content is already cached on device or still hosted remotely on your CDN. The runtime can download new content packs without requiring a full application update. End users get new seasonal content while maintaining performance and managing memory efficiently.
glTF and .GLB are essentially the same format packaged differently - glTF is a text-based format with separate files (textures, binary data, etc.) which makes it great for development and debugging, while GLB bundles everything into a single binary file, making it more efficient for distribution and runtime loading.
glTF provides a streamlined solution for 3D model loading using Unity’s free glTFast package. Consider this option when you need:
Ideal use case:
A simple model viewer application where quick loading and standard format support are priorities. If you need to re-use an asset across different RT3D projects, without having to re-compile them, GLB is the way to go. A concrete example is an e-commerce application where a single viewer can view thousands of assets.
Another example would be projects where content that can be customized by users such as custom avatars or custom accessories and require a standard format which can be authored with flexibility.
Why it works: GLB is THE 3D format of the web. GLB data is available at many touchpoints.
Use Unity 3D data streaming to dynamically download only the relevant parts of a model and make them viewable on any device, regardless of the model size.
Unity 3D Data Streaming is a polygon streaming service that allows developers to stream 3D static assets and environments directly to users' devices. The data is pre-processed in Unity Asset Manager using Pixyz technology to automatically optimize its distribution to the runtime application. The loading in the runtime is also handled by Unity’s gltFast technology.
Within your client, the 3D Data Streaming package enables the model to be loaded by implementing out-of-the-box optimizations, reducing the memory footprint of the model further from the camera while ensuring full detail up close.
3DDS shines when handling large-scale models and complex visualizations while preserving all part metadata of your model. It's the go-to choice for:
Ideal use case:
A VR walk-through experience of your models you’ve never been able to display in a runtime application.
An architectural or engineering visualization and review application with access to metadata or properties dealing with detailed CAD or BIM models that cannot be loaded in their entirety given a device’s limited memory and rendering capabilities.
If you're developing a game with Unity, Addressables is generally the recommended solution. Here's why:
Exception case: User-Generated Content If your game involves user-generated content (like custom avatars or items), consider GLB:
Exception case: An Entity Component System (ECS)-based Unity game. If you are taking advantage of Unity’s ECS architecture, you should use the Entities Content Management system for runtime asset management.
For industry projects, the choice depends more on specific requirements.
Choose GLB when:
Choose 3DDS when:
Unity Asset Manager helps you organize and prepare your assets before runtime, creating an efficient pipeline for whichever loading strategy you choose. Integrated with the Unity Editor and Unity’s dataprep solution, Pixyz, Asset Manager can:
As your project grows, Asset Manager scales alongside your Unity Editor license to provide additional storage and management capabilities.
Whether you're preparing assets for Asset Bundles, generating glTF files, or setting up 3DDS streaming, Unity Asset Manager helps you maintain organization and control during development.
Unity Asset Manager can bring data directly into runtime applications. Once gLTF and 3DDS data is generated, it can be reviewed in runtime instantly, and without building times. This shortcuts the journey of industrial customers to bring their CAD and BIM data directly into Unity applications.
If you’d like to learn more about Unity Asset Manager solutions, check out these resources:
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