Unity Asset Manager provides new ways to discover, manage, and share assets within your Organization. This section introduces basic concepts which will help better understand the Unity Asset Manager universe.
Entity
An entity can be:
- a file, for example uploaded from your computer.
- a dataset, which contains files.
- an asset, which contains datasets.
Every entity has content and metadata. They are connected following the asset structure.
Unity Cloud Asset
A Unity Cloud asset is the high-level grouping entity containing two or more datasets and metadata. An asset can be discovered through the search and the main library view.
An asset can be linked to several projects and/or collections.
System metadata attributes
System metadata attributes are metadata generated by Asset Manager.
| Attribute | Description | Value | Visible in UI |
|---|---|---|---|
| AssetId | ID of the asset (for API usage). | String | Yes |
| Collections | List of collections the asset belongs to. | String | Yes |
| Created | Date and time of the asset creation. | String | Yes |
| CreatedBy | ID of the user who created the asset. | String | Yes |
| Datasets | List of datasets contained in this asset (have similar metadata to assets). | Array | Yes |
| Files | List of files contained in this asset (have similar metadata to assets). | Array | Yes |
| ProjectUri | List of projects this asset belongs to. | Yes | |
| SourceProject | Source project of the asset. | String | No |
| SystemTags | Tags needed by system. | String | No |
| Updated | Date and time of the latest asset update. | String | Yes |
| UpdatedBy | ID of user who last updated the asset. | String | Yes |
User metadata attributes
User metadata attributes are metadata added by a user.
| Attribute | Description | Value | Visible in UI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | Description of the asset. | String | Yes |
| Metadata | Searchable asset's custom metadata. | Object | Yes |
| Name | Name of the asset. | String | Yes |
| PreviewFilePath | ID of the file used as a cover image. | String | No |
| PrimaryType | Primary type of the asset. Possible values are: 2D Asset, Audio, Material, 3D Model, Script, Video, Other. | String | Yes |
| Status | Status of the asset. Possible values: Draft or Published. | String | Yes |
| SystemMetadata | Asset's custom metadata. These metadata are not searchable. | Object | No |
| Tags | Tags of the asset | Array | Yes |
Go further
- For more information about creating assets, see Add an asset.
- For more information about finding assets in your projects, see Discover assets.
Asset structure
An asset structure refers to entities structures and how they are connected together. Assets in the Asset Manager operate with a three level entity structure: dataset, file, and metadata:
- An asset contains at least two datasets: source dataset and preview dataset.
- A dataset contains at least one file. A file can be referenced in several datasets to avoid data duplication in the same asset.
- Each entity contains metadata. Metadata can be primary metadata and/or custom metadata.
File and dataset metadata are hidden in the Asset Manager UI. Custom datasets are also hidden.
Dataset
A dataset is a versioned set of files attached to an asset in Unity Asset Manager. By default, an asset contains two datasets: a source dataset and a preview dataset.
You can create a custom dataset with API calls and an asset ID. Created datasets can be used as input workflows to add files you wish to download, preview, or stream. Workflows can output datasets.
When a dataset is removed from all assets, it is automatically deleted.
An asset only displays the source dataset and the preview dataset in the Asset Manager web UI. Custom datasets can only be listed via the API.
System-generated attributes
| Attribute | Description | Value | Visible in UI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Created | Date and time of the dataset creation. | String | No |
| CreatedBy | ID of the user who created the dataset. | String | No |
| DatasetID | ID of the dataset (for API usage). | String | No |
| FilesOrder | Order of the files through an array of FilePaths. This attribute keeps the previews sorted in the UI. | Array | No |
| SystemTags | Tags needed for the system. | String | No |
| Updated | Date and time of the latest dataset update. | String | No |
| UpdatedBy | ID of the user who last updated the dataset. | String | No |
| WorkflowName | Name of the workflow used to create the dataset. | String | No |
User-generated attributes
| Attribute | Description | Value | Visible in UI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | Description of the dataset. | String | No |
| IsVisible | If a Dataset should be visible or not on the UI | Boolean | No |
| Metadata | Dataset's custom metadata that are searchable | Object | No |
| Name | Name of the dataset. | String | No |
| PreviewFilePath | File path of the asset cover image. | String | No |
| SystemMetadata | Dataset's custom metadata. These metadata are not searchable. | Object | No |
| Tags | Tags of the dataset. | Array | No |
File
A file is the lowest entity level on Asset Manager. A file is uploaded to a dataset, which is attached to one or more assets. The unique identifier of a file is its file path within the asset.
To avoid data duplication, a file can be referenced in two different datasets of the same asset.
| Name | Generated by | Visible in UI | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FilePath | system | Yes | Name and path of the file. Serves as unique identifier |
| Description | user | No | (Optional) |
| Tags | user | No | (Optional) |
| SystemTags | system | No | Tags needed for the system |
| CreatedBy | system | No | User ID who created the file |
| Created | system | No | Date and Time when the file has been created |
| UpdatedBy | system | No | The last User ID who updated the file |
| Updated | system | No | The last updated date and time of the file |
| Metadata | user | No | File's custom metadata that are searchable |
| SystemMetadata | user | No | File's custom metadata that are NOT searchable |
| FileSize | user (API) | No | File size |
| UserChecksum | system | No | Available field for checksum use-case |
| PortalMetadata | system | No | Use by frontend to store extra data |
Metadata
Metadata contains all raw information used to help identify, describe, and discover an entity. There are two types of metadata: primary metadata and custom metadata. Metadata live on three different levels:
- The file level
- The dataset level
- The asset level
Primary Metadata
Every entity has primary metadata, the basic information for an asset or required for the system to work.
Custom Metadata
Assets can have custom metadata to further help identity, describe and discover them. You can add custom metadata fields to assets by using the ones from your Organization library. Custom metadata are defined by their name, value, and definition.
File and dataset can also have custom metadata, but are not driven by metadata field definition. They are defined by key/value pairs. * Only users with a Consumer level role and above can access assets custom metadata through the Unity Asset Manager UI.
Metadata Field Definition
Each Organization has a library of metadata fields. Each metadata field contains the following information:
name: the medatadata unique identifier.displayName: the metadata display name, used in the Asset Manager UI.type: the metadata type which can be:textnumberbooleanURLDate and timeuserselectmulti-select
Select and multi-select types have the acceptedValues options.
Only users with a Project Manager role can create metadata field definitions.
Collections
Within a project, assets can be linked to one or more collections. Collections can be nested.
Go further
For information about creating a collection, see Create a collection.
Projects
Asset Manager is built around the concept of a project. Projects are where organizations can upload assets, add users, and assign roles to users.
Go further
- For information about creating projects, see Create a new project.
- For information about managing users in a project, see Manage access to your projects.