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Plastic SCM for Unity: Better workflows for stronger collaboration

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Discover how Plastic SCM empowers your team to work quickly and collaborate more efficiently with enhanced version control.

At Unity, we believe that your whole team should be able to enjoy the benefits of seamless version control without the complexity. We strive to tailor this experience across all disciplines – from development to design – so that version control feels like a natural part of any workflow. By using Plastic SCM, your team can securely work together to store your source code and assets, keep track of all project changes, and rapidly manage large files. Get started for free with Plastic SCM Cloud Edition, which provides up to 5 GB of storage for a maximum of three users.

With Plastic SCM for Unity, part of the Version Control package in the Unity Package Manager, you can conveniently sync your changes with your teammates’ work and consult your project history without ever leaving Unity. This allows you and your team to benefit from powerful version control features while keeping your focus on what matters most – creating.

Using the package, you can take quick action through contextual menus in the Project view or harness the dedicated Plastic SCM window for a more centralized overview of operations. Creating or selecting existing branches in the Branch Explorer gives you the ability to branch risky changes without the worry of impacting others. You can also leverage the File History view to restore older versions of your files and view changes as you go in the Changesets view.

Editor screenshot

Get started with Plastic SCM

Plastic SCM for Unity is now available via the Version Control package in the Unity Package Manager for the current Tech Stream, and both 2019.4 and 2020.3 LTS. Here are the release versions:

  • 2019.4.29f1
  • 2020.3.15f1
  • 2021.1.15f1
  • 2021.2.0b6
  • 2022.1.0a4

The Version Control package, formerly the Collaborate package, is a package built-in with Unity Editor that facilitates the process of enabling either Collaborate or Plastic SCM in your Unity project.

We also have a migration tool for any Collaborate users who want to try Plastic SCM out on a current project.

You can access Plastic SCM for Unity on any supported version by navigating to Window > Plastic SCM. From there, you’ll walk through a simple onboarding process, which will guide your account setup and ensure that your Unity project is configured correctly.

Plastic SCM

Once you complete the onboarding process, you will be ready to sync your project using a Plastic SCM Cloud Edition repository. The tool will automatically add a standard ignore file to ensure that you do not check in files that can cause unnecessary bloat to your repository. There will also be an automatic first check-in so that the cloud repository stays in sync with your local project.

Basic version control actions, such as viewing pending changes, checking in changes, and viewing changesets, don’t require a Plastic SCM Client install. However, if you want to use more advanced features, such as branching, you will be prompted to download the Plastic SCM client (if you have not already done so).

Join Plastic SCM projects from the Hub (coming soon)

We will soon introduce the ability to join existing Plastic SCM projects in the Unity Hub! 

Suppose you want to start working on a Unity project in an existing Plastic SCM repository but don’t have the files on your machine yet. Using the Unity Hub, you will be able to browse all repositories and clone them directly to your machine to get working fast.

Here is a sneak peek into this feature.

View pending changes

The Pending Changes tab allows you to view all changes in your workspace that have not been synced with your cloud repository. Many types of changes are tracked, such as files added, changed, moved, and deleted.

Check the boxes for any files you wish to check in, add a comment, and click on the Checkin Changes button. On the other hand, you can undo your pending changes by selecting the applicable files and clicking the Undo Changes button. Be careful though, as this will erase any changes you made to the file since it was last checked in.

Plastic - pending changes

Sync your project

One of the primary ways that version control brings value to your team is by giving you the ability to work together efficiently. You will receive an “incoming changes” notification at the top-right corner of the Plastic SCM window when any of your teammates check in changes to the project. Click on the Incoming Changes tab to view all incoming changes and update your local project. It is best to do this fairly frequently to avoid facing future conflicts that you will have to resolve later.

Incoming changes

Consult your project history

Another key benefit of version control is that it enables you to keep track of all the changes made to your project. Just like a story that unfolds, you can view these updates as they occur, chronologically, along with who made the changes and when. To view this information, click on the Changesets tab. You can also sort any of the columns based on your needs.

Changesets

Additionally, the File History tab lets you view any changes made to a specific file. Access the File History tab through a contextual menu in the Project view or by right-clicking on any file that was modified in a changeset.

The File History tab can also help you be more productive. Simply right-click on a change to revert to a previous version of the file. Otherwise, select Save the revision as… to restore the file’s former state. This is useful if you had previously deleted some logic that you now need to look at.

Screenshot

Take advantage of branching

Branching is a handy feature that allows you to temporarily branch off your work from the rest of the team so that you can work in isolation. You can still collaborate with your teammates, but they’ll need to join your branch to work with you. Once you are done making changes, you can “merge” this branch into the main one. Click the Launch branch explorer button to create, switch, or merge branches.

 In the example below, a team member has created a branch to test color changes.

Branching

The following video shows multiple Plastic SCM for Unity features in action, such as branching, checking in changes, consulting project history, viewing the history of a specific file, and reverting to a previous revision or version of a file.

Building the future of version control in Unity

We’re excited to deliver a more deeply integrated Plastic SCM solution within Unity to help you create even faster. While we always value choice in solutions and support various other VCS, including Unity Collaborate, we believe that Plastic SCM’s stability, speed, and accessibility make it the ideal solution for most creators. That’s why we are actively developing Plastic SCM for Unity – to bring you an increasingly intuitive experience with the right features for your team so that each member can focus on what they came to Unity to do – create amazing experiences.

Stay tuned as we continue to work on additional key features for this solution. Your feedback is invaluable to help us improve our integration of Plastic SCM in Unity. We would love for you to join the discussion in our Unity forum or participate in studies related to Plastic SCM by signing up here.

About Plastic SCM Cloud Edition

Plastic Cloud Edition, the cloud-based Plastic SCM product, provides the most robust cloud-based solution on the market for large repos and binary files. In addition, your team can collaborate from anywhere in the world, without compromising performance or efficiency. You can secure your codebase by setting permissions for repositories, branches, labels, and paths, and work confidently with support from SSL, Active Directory, LDAP, encrypted servers, and more, to further secure your game project and all of its data.

Want to know how else Unity can help you? Discover Unity solutions to overcome challenges at every stage of development, from big idea to big success.

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