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Better 2D Graphics Support...

Discussion in 'Wish List' started by WillBellJr, May 19, 2009.

  1. WillBellJr

    WillBellJr

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2009
    Posts:
    394
    If I'm missing out on any existing APIs for doing this kind of stuff, please point me in the right direction!

    I'd like to see additional functions within Unity for direct HUD drawing - a 2D line drawing toolkit (lines, arcs, circles, rects, gradients etc.)

    A built in Sprite Management system would be nice as well.

    Coming from the FlatRedBall engine, I really wish Unity had some of it's 2D drawing and Sprite management features.

    In my game I need to add 2D HUD graphics to my cockpits:


    And to be able to draw 2D primitives:


    Granted with todays graphics, this to some can appear to be way outdated.

    That's why I also mentioned a built-in defacto Sprite Management system that everyone can depend on, with powerful image / UV coordinate manipulation features that would support these kinds of graphics overlay tasks.

    While I like the line-drawn instrumentation look, I would definitely consider putting together a 2D sprite based system provided I could achieve the same kinds of graphic overlays - gauges w/varying levels, blinking lights, radar / blip displays etc.

    Importing animated GIF image textures (w/transparency) would be nice also...

    -Will

    PS - What would be really nice is if XNA related graphics (DirectX only) calls could be mixed into the current render; being able to use XNA's graphics APIs to draw on top of Unity's would be really powerful IMO.
     
  2. rotaercz

    rotaercz

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2009
    Posts:
    34
    I totally agree with this!
     
  3. Duskling

    Duskling

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2011
    Posts:
    1,196
  4. ptdnet

    ptdnet

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2011
    Posts:
    100
    Unity needs to buy SpriteManager2 (and EZGUI while they're at it) and fully integrate them.
     
  5. Dreamora

    Dreamora

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2008
    Posts:
    26,601
    actually larger part of that there is a thing you explicitely don't want to do with sprites due to overdraw as sprites are drawing the whole transparent stuff too as there is no cpu driven drawing as back in the days those games where done. its all gpu and there transparency wastes a lot of bandwith if done badly.

    for all that line stuff etc, the 'line toolkit' I would highly recommend to look into Vectrocity. its sample game looks like good old stone age / virtual boy games :D
     
  6. loki70x7

    loki70x7

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2010
    Posts:
    54
    agreed
     
  7. hippocoder

    hippocoder

    Digital Ape

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2010
    Posts:
    29,723
    No cos spritemanager2 and EZGUI are very inefficient at certain things, like scaling. Also they don't fit too good with the current unity methodologies. This isn't the fault of those addons, but simply a lack of getting lower level with unity.

    Also, using spritemanager2 is a ton slower than rolling your own quads. This is for a variety of reasons (lots of scripting overhead) and broken batching in some cases. The recent unite unveiled some of these cases where it really dragged on performance.

    So while it is a nice addon, its not what unity needs at all IMHO.

    Unity have already announced their plans for overhauled artist-centric 2D stuff in their blog and the first part of it will come out in 3.5. Check the unite presentation and roadmap blog entries on http://blogs.unity3d.com/

    Hopefully the new 2D stuff they're doing will enable brady to update spritemanager2 to fix those niche cases where performance can stall, and make it even better for people who like to do their games that way.
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2011