This book was a culmination of three years of teaching Unity, learning alongside my students, who weren't always keen on learning "gaming technology" as future professional architects. I thank them for their openness and critical standing, as long as everybody stays positive and constructive. There is more to life than 2D drafting, after all.
I learned a lot from online forums and some of the other Packt Publishing books on Unity, with a special mention to Will Goldstone. I was also inspired by the work of Jon Brouchoud on archvirtual.com, and got some valuable advice from Ivan De Boi and Pieter Jorissen from Karel de Grote University College in Antwerp, and from discussions with former students of mine Thomas Van Bouwel and Berno Bosch on the use of Unity. Several master students are currently applying Unity in some form or other for their master theses, which means I can teach and learn at the same time. The attention to one of my papers on digital reconstruction and the use of game engines was also a clear sign of a growing interest in this subject.
I thank Packt Publishing, especially Akash Poojary and Meeta Rajani, for this opportunity and hope that you, the reader, will really gain something from this book. Sincere thanks to Pieter Jorissen and Sebastian Koenig for their constructive and detailed review. I even learned a thing or two that wasn't clear to me before. Please send me examples of what you were able to accomplish from this.
Finally, I have to express my gratitude to my wife and my three sons, for their support, their love, and their patience. Life in our house is often hectic and time is precious but limited. It is so inspiring to see the unlimited creativity and openness of young children and how they adapt to technology and new concepts. There is no limit to what they would like to create, be it with Lego bricks or in drawings and improvised constructions using whatever they can find in and around the house.
Thank you, all.
