Journal 09 — Basic Physics in Unity

Physics can be implemented in your game to add realism, such as collisions, gravity, and bounciness.

Start with a basic scene in Unity with a Plane for a floor, a sphere and a cube. For the sphere and cube, do a search in the Inspector “Add Component” for Rigidbody.

Unity Inspector — Rigidbody and Collider Physics Material

When a Rigidbody is attached to the game object and “Gravity” is selected, the object will respond to gravity and fall. If “Gravity” is not selected, the object will sit in space until it is collided with.

Unity Playmode — Rigidbody and Gravity

Unity Playmode — Rigidbody on Cube but no Gravity

For the sphere, let’s create a “Physics Material” and call it “Bouncy” to make it behave more like a bouncing ball. In the material properties, you can set the bounciness to a max value of 1. Also for added bounce, change the “Bounce Combine” to “Maximum”.

Unity Inspector settings for Bouncy Physics Material

Unity Playmode — Rigidbody, Gravity, and Bounciness

A great resource for several tutorials on the use of Physics is at Unity Learn.

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