Issue: screenshots of GUI elements with rendertexture

I'm making a drawing / coloring app. I use uGui for stamp/sticker functionality.

I'm trying to use a rendertexture to make a screenshot. But the GUI elements don't show up on the render texture.

The GUI elements are on a Screen Space - Camera canvas which is rendered by my Main Camera. When I'm taking a screenshot I set the target texture of my camera to a rendertexture, take my screenshot, and reset. Everything shows up in the PNG except the GUI elements. This is my code:

Code (CSharp):

1.                 mainCamera.targetTexture = renderTextureFull;
2.                 RenderTexture.active = renderTextureFull;
3.                 mainCamera.Render ();
4.  
5.                 Rect portion = new Rect(0f, canvasMinY, canvasSizeX, canvasSizeY);
6.  
7.                 readingTextureFull.ReadPixels (portion, 0, 0);
8.                 System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes (directoryPath + "/" + fileName + "_total.png", readingTextureFull.EncodeToPNG ());
9.  
10.                 mainCamera.targetTexture = null;
11.                 RenderTexture.active = null;
12.  

Weird thing is that if I don't reset the main camera back to rendering to the screen (targetTexture = null) I do get the GUI elements if I save a second time. So I guess GUI elements are rendered sometime later in the render pipeline. But if I postpone everything from mainCamera.Render() onwards to the OnPostRender() event it doesn't show up so it's probably even later than that.

A solution I thought of is using 2 cameras and don't switching the Render Target, but I can't assign a canvas to more than one camera. Does anybody know another solution for this issue or is it a Unity bug?

I found a forum post stating that an issue was logged for a similar issue (number 631091), but can't find it back in the issue tracker.

 

its a Unity bug, we know about it but didnt have time to fix it for V1.

 

+1 on this please, I have had bugs raised against my editor extension ( http://u3d.as/9tf ) , from customers.

@phil-Unity is there a public link to that bug report for my own reference?

Thanks

 

Hi
Any news on this issue ? Seems to me it still not fixed 4.6.0f3. Or may bt there is easy workaround to be able to render to texture uGUI Canvas content ?

Thank you.

 

@hunterua

The only work-around I've found so far is to set the UI canvas to "World Space" rather than "Screen Space" in order to render UI elements into the render texture. Perhaps this is helpful to you? unfortunately in my case it's just not enough to solve the issue.

 

it should be fixed in the next beta as well.

 

I appears this issue is still *not* fixed in 4.6.1f1. Can anyone confirm? Thanks.

 

I can

It wont even make it to the next patch release my fix got changed when moving to a new branch and it re broke the fix. I want to talk to the guy who changed it to figure out why before i do any other changes.

 

Hey Phil, thanks for letting us know! FYI... I need this fix so my iVidCapPro video capture plugin can work for capturing the new UI elements

 

Is this fix in 4.6.1p5 ?

 

yea it should make it for p5 i think/hope

 

I have this same problem in 4.6.2 so looks like it hasn't been fixed

 

A working example of how to capture the UI to a rendertexture and how to blit that back to a scene camera's rendertarget would be nice.

 

Yea a whole bunch of internal things happened which caused a lot of UI fixes to not make it into a release quickly. I personally merge in a bunch this week for 4.6.2p1. It should include this issue

 

Hey Phil, is there a confirmation that this made it in for 4.6.3?

I'm not seeing any of my UI in the captures to rendertexture.. (Possible I'm still doing something wrong?)

 

should have been in as of 4.6.2p1

 

(I'm stuck with the webplayer, so I needed the full point release )

 

then it should have been in 4.6.3 yes

 

4.6.3f1 - the bug is still here

 

I'm also experiencing this bug on 4.6.3p3

 

Just purchased Screenshot Creator from DarkArts Studio, and due to this bug, I can't get screens with my UI, very frustrating .

I'm on Unity 4.6.4f1

 

@raiden I'm truly sorry about this. Many people have contacted us about this issue and we're watching this progress closely in case we need to react should Unity's fix not correct this 100% for Screenshot Creator.

[Edit] This may or may not help you with your particular situation, but if the UI elements are set within "world space" they should render within screenshots depending on which patch level of Unity you have. It might be worth a try for you if feasible within your project.

 

I see you updated the Asset Store description with "Please note: There is currently a known bug within Unity itself preventing non-world-space UI items from being captured. See This Forum Postfor more information. Once Unity's Developers fix this bug UI elements should be captured correctly."

But I don't think this adequate. The fact is majority of UI is done in screen space, and your asset - unity bug or not - does not work as advertised. You need to put this notice at the top and make it explicit that you cannot currently take screenshots for Unity 4.6 and Unity 5.

Taking App store screenshots is a pitfa and most of us bought this to relieve the pain and it's still there.
Continuing to sell the product when it doesn't work isn't really good business - or brand - sense.

I've had to pull my own products at times from app stores due to Unity bugs (usually informed by an irate customer). It's painful, but until it's fixed you shouldn't really be selling it - or be very plain about what works and what doesn't in very clear language.

 

@sonicviz Pulling it from the store means those that *HAVE* bought it already won't have access to it. There are many happy people with the product as it stands - all those customers, who have paid and are happy, will no longer be able to download it and use it (even though they paid for it) if it's pulled. That, in our opinion, makes a lot less business sense.

It definitely works as advertised, baring Unity UI non-worldspace UI elements (for now).

 

Look into my plugin. I have already fix this issue (Really found a workaround).
https://github.com/chromealex/Unity3d.UI.Windows

It will be able in Windows/Device Preview menu.

 

Just updated to Unity 4.6.5f, and same thing no fix yet.

@phil, how is progress coming on this issue?

 

https://github.com/chromealex/Unity...ons/DevicePreview/Core/DevicePreviewCamera.cs

 

chrome.alex, how bout some usage information please?

Thanks

 

You need call Initialize method and set there your target rendertexture and the second param is the callback calling on operation completed state.

Or I have another variant. You can use https://github.com/chromealex/Unity...icePreview/Core/Editor/DevicePreviewWindow.cs

In this script find OnGUI method - in it foreach statement with camera variable.

Hope it helps.

 

This still isn't fixed.

Using Unity 5.0.2p2

 

Bug numbers? clearly we all need to re-send the bugs with our various repro cases.

 

any news on this?

 

Just tested again, and still not fixed in latest Unity 5.1.0f3

 

and still exists in 5.1.2f1

 

Any word on this? I'm also running into it...

 

Same here, any news?

 

I'm gonna be pissed if this fix makes it into 5.3 and not 4.6

*edit* think I got a limited workaround at least for my use case... as long as the Camera is enabled, and with a render texture assigned, it will render into the render texture.. so I just read that render texture and blit to the screen as needed.

previously I was relying on camera.Render() with a disabled camera, much like you'd usually do. Still haven't tried if SetTargetBuffers() works correctly though, it wasn't before so that might be a problem for me actually.

 

5.2.2 seems bug still alive(

 

5.3.6... still don't get the UI when using Texture2D.ReadPixels for screenshot. Any workarounds?

 

I agree, I spent a ton of time setting my UI Canvas to world, then having to reposition and scale objects to get the UI in the screens correctly. The whole purpose for me purchasing this item was quickly get screenshots without having to do any scene/ui manipulation. It would be great if unity could fix this.

 

What did you purchase?

 

This : https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/8682

Fantastic tool, with the exception of not being to capture the UI without the canvas being in World view. Although, my last screenshots i did, I changed everything in play mode in unity, grabbed my screens, then when I stopped play, my scene went back to normal, so that method was considerably faster than just doing screen snips.

 

I still experience this bug in Unity 4.6.9f1 it is a shame to see this keeps hapenning specially when Unity guys said it is fixed. People even have reported the problem still exists in Unity 5.3.6. This is even more frustrating when you paid for a Pro version and promised bug fixes are still present with a high price tag for newer Unity versions...

 

I just submitted bug #758542 which has a super simple repro of this continuing problem in 5.3.1p1. It's completely self-contained and easy to repro in that project.

@phil-Unity, is this a regression of something that was fixed in a past release? Is there any workaround?

Thanks!

 

I cant believe this is still a bug after a year +. I want to take some upscaled screenshots and I have to change GUIs to do it.

 

I have to agree, it's pretty bad.

Any updates on this? I mean, it's been going on for a long time now. I understand that there's latency between writing code and that new code making it into a release build, but... a whole year?

 

Same here still waiting.. I'm tired of taking screenshots in the slow Xcode Simulator one by one for each device.

 

i can't believe this is still a bug... it's been years!

 

also interested in a workaround. just created an automated screenshot tool. unfortunately none of my UI elements carry over.

 

Still an issue with v5.3.3 ... Anything about fixing this in 5.4?
Or any workaround other then using "world space"?
(I'm working on a new asset for the Asset Store so setting the canvas to world space is not an option )

Edit: Vote for the bug here: https://issuetracker.unity3d.com/issues/rendertextures-do-not-include-canvas-ui-elements

To all who need screenshots (@jeffweber, @raiden, @angrypenguin, @wheretheidivides, @Stevanus, @SAOTA):
My asset "xARM: Aspect and Resolution Master" can create batches of screenshots at different resolutions without using RenderTexture (= not affected by this bug).
Sorry for the marketing ...