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Official Unity wants your feedback on usability and artist workflows!

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Nevin, Apr 25, 2017.

  1. EiknarF

    EiknarF

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    Nevin likes this.
  2. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi BigBite,

    Thank you for this extensive feedback! A thing I noticed on your screen shot was "Remove Outline not needed". Can you elaborate more on that in relation to your workflows?
     
  3. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi EiknarF,

    Thank you for the feedback! When I click on the link, it says that Custom Handles package is no longer available on the Asset Store. Is there another way you can elaborate on how we can improve the Hierarchy? And also how this plugin helped you setting up ragdolls easier?
     
  4. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi Vagabond,

    We feel your pain! Thank you so much for sharing this! Do you experience this more consistently when working on a terrain or have you experienced this in other situations/workflows?
     
  5. abdo400

    abdo400

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    Low poly terrain please!
     
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  6. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi PhilSA,

    Thank you for this extensive feedback. We really appreciate it! I have one question though - you wrote that "maybe things should be different for "models" and for "prefabs" - in what way would you want it to be different?
     
  7. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

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    Don't be sorry Vagabond! This is great feedback, keep them rolling in! :)
     
    Vagabond_ likes this.
  8. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi abdo400! We hear you :) How would you like to create low poly terrains in Unity? Any workflow examples/plugins you can share?
     
  9. EiknarF

    EiknarF

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    Custom Handles gives you a visual representation of the character joint constraints and then lets you change them, it's almost impossible to quickly get good values without it as there are just a lot of values to guess then tweak and test and repeat.This is the same plugin unfortunately not showing its use on the joints.
    hopefully you can imagine the limits being visualized with the tech.

    A big improvement would be not limiting hierarchy depth in project view.
    Apparently it's by design, https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/s...vels-in-prefabs-project-view.8101/#post-59624
    I don't think users need this level of protection, I often need to edit parts deep in the hierarchy of the prefab but the workflow is bad, at the moment I need to;

    Stop the game
    Find prefab
    Drag into scene
    Edit
    Apply change to prefab
    Play the game
    Respawn asset

    I would rather just;

    Find prefab
    Edit
    Respawn asset
     
    Nevin likes this.
  10. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi Lex4art,

    Thank you for this feedback! Have some questions to your first example, which is not related to the larger previews (which we totally understand!), but rather to your general workflows in Project Browser. Are there any ways in which we could improve the Project Browser and make workflows better for you?
     
  11. Vagabond_

    Vagabond_

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    Hi Nevin,
    I really can not understand what causes the issue but honestly i feel like it was always there even in simple scenes.

    This is another video showing the problem using just simple cubes. As you can see the object in the background gets selected first instead of the one which is closest. It is impossible to make multi selection holding "control".



    Thank You !
     
  12. PhilSA

    PhilSA

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    There's just something that doesn't feel right in my mind about what I suggested, even if I can't quite put my finger on it right now.

    Let's go through an example to clear things up:
    • We have a "Human.fbx", which is a file containing our human model and its bone hierarchy
    • He have several animation .fbx files: "Human@idle.fbx", "Human@walk.fbx", etc....
    • With this Human model, we make two prefabs: "HumanRed.prefab" and "HumanBlue.prefab", each with different textures and possible different behaviours
    Both prefabs use the fbx assets for their base model and animation. So it doesn't make sense to access the "Model/Rig/Animation" panel through the "Prefab Window" like I said earlier. That means....
    • When double-clicking on a .fbx asset, a "Model Window" should be opened. This window gives you:
      • the GameObject hierarchy of the fbx, which cannot be edited, but can serve as a way to see which bones are exposed as transforms and which bones arent when doing "Optimize GameObject"
      • The LookDev-style window to view the mesh or animation
      • the usual Model/Rig/Animation panels that we have now
      • The ability to play animation clips and see them in real time in the LookDev-style viewport
      • It should end up looking a bit like this:
    • When double-clicking on a .prefab asset, a "Prefab Window" should be opened. This window gives you:
      • The hierarchy view of the prefab, and the inspector tab to edit components on each GameObject of the prefab.
      • Revert/Apply prefab buttons
      • The ability to "Simulate Play" within the Prefab Window to see how animations would look on that prefab. You'd have to be able to tweak AnimatiorController parameters in realtime and see the animated model in the viewport
      • We'd need the nested prefabs system to be figured out, so that the "Human.fbx" GameObjects appear as nested prefabs in your "HumanRed" and "HumanBlue" prefabs. That way, when you update the Human.fbx model, the update carries on to your prefabs that use that model and have kept the prefab link. That is.... assuming the nested prefabs system somehow understands that the two human prefabs have different materials on their meshes.....
    That's it for the Model/Prefab windows! I still feel like there might be some inconsistencies with all that, but we could only find out through testing
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2017
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  13. 313b

    313b

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    Hi Nevin,
    Thanks for the reply! Changes made in editor after you press the play button. You can use the little gear to copy the settings of one game object and after you press stop you can click on the gear and paste them back in. But if you change more than one thing, you've got to take screenshots of changes made to your game objects, then re-enter them after you press stop.

    Sometimes it's great to have Unity forget all (most) of the changes you make when the game is playing. It gives you a chance to experiment without messing up too much. But other times it's be great to be able to fine tune your settings while in edit (playing) mode and have it just remember everything after you press stop. A 'simple' remember details toggle would do the trick.
     
    Nevin likes this.
  14. PhilSA

    PhilSA

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    Some more ideas:
    • Built-in mesh LOD generation (just a thing that reduces polys for a given fbx and outputs a new fbx asset)
    • Make something production-ready with the Volumetric Lighting package
    • Deferred Decals
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2017
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  15. Rodolfo-Rubens

    Rodolfo-Rubens

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    I'm having this same issue, since 5.5 I think, I sent a bug reporter but the unity dev couldn't reproduce so I just let it go.
     
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  16. FireHawkX

    FireHawkX

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    I am using PixelCrusher AMAZING dialogue system for my game (cheap plug for a pluging I bought and love)

    However I ran into an issue with scrolling lists... see the following image :
    http://i.imgur.com/hgUKMZh.jpg?1
    When the list becomes too big, I wanted to be able to scroll with my mouse instead of having to click the little arrow at the top and bottom...

    I contacted the dev, and he gave me a workaround on how to create "folders" which I will be doing... HOWEVER, that is only postponing the problem as eventually my list will become too big once more... he told me that the selection dropdown menu was handled entirely by unity and gave me this link to post about it... which is what i am doing now ;)

    So TLDR : having mouse wheel in drop down menu that go beyond the screen height would be nice :)
     
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  17. Baste

    Baste

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    My great colleague @steinbitglis made a little script to fix this. Hold down ctrl, and use the scroll wheel to go through renderers from closest to the camera to furthest away. It's honestly one of my favourite additions to Unity. Grab it from the wiki.

    We have a lot of "fog planes" in scenes, which are basically semi-transparent quads with cool effects on them that we place over the level and rotate. Without that script, selecting things under the planes is pretty much impossible.
     
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  18. PhilSA

    PhilSA

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    +1
    Maybe a little search bar at the top too
     
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  19. Player7

    Player7

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    Oh fun a feedback thread! just what I was looking for to talk ux frustrations...

    Ugui
    - Dedicated scene tab for ugui canvas object/components only.. complete with grid tools, layout mode visualizing for various mobile desktop screensizes, provide a damn list of popular mobile phone resolutions layouts.. I dunno wth you do with all the stat collecting but seeing that every unity releases come with a practically empty [Free Aspect] dropdown with hardly any presets when it certainly could be filled with a few menus with popular desktop/mobile screen aspects/resolutions already predefined (top 10 for mobile).. is a bit of joke that it isn't ...anyway that dropdown and the screenscaling slider should be part of this dedicated ugui canvas editor tab.

    ugui component states.. you cannot visualize or quickly visualize states on things like buttons other than the default state.. ie you cannot see highlighted, pressed etc.. sure you can check those colors on the default state and then copy color over to the other state.. or do it while running the game.. but yknow workflow, testing wise its a bit naff, when ugui components and a ugui editor could be improved to make this a little less annoying to do especially if it got a dedicated editor tab for it.

    Nested prefabs.. yadda yadda Not strictly for ugui, but seriously wtf is going on with nested prefabs, I've always seen it as something that could be a good companion for ugui related workflow, theming/styling things, guess that will largely be on how its implemented.

    Editor General
    -Make it possible to detach the gameview tab(or any tab), and give it an icon with option to toggle 'always on top' so when its over the main unity window and it is not in direct focus then it can go behind instead of covering and taking up space from the main window view.. it is incredibly annoying as it needs moving around or resizing (and its not like it remembers the size/position of where it was detatched from, with a button to send it back to its last attached panel position and vice versa), and just putting it back into a panel view within the main window (resizing things again), or using multiple layout views is not a great workaround to do manually.. go look at maya its had this done right for over a decade now with with detachable windows getting their own taskbar window, aswel as being able to be attached into the main window again.

    -Camera preferences to have more control over camera, flyspeed (how long it takes to get to full speed, falloff etc), clipping planes (currently adjustable with mousewheel, but are a pain to work with when using [f] to frame on something small or even large (it seems to fail at getting it right in both situations really.. fk all options), and then having to mousewheel in to get the clipping right for things.. basically its not good, or just do what that others suggest and allow us to adjust more of its inner workings via script..

    - Make drag and dropping of unitypackages onto the unity window... just work (right now they have to dropped onto the project tab or else nothing happens.. any unity window should take care of the .unitypackage and know what to do with it (ie import, I mean what else)

    - Similar problem with drag/dropping files out from an archive, unity for some reason won't copy and import a file dragged and dropped from a temp extraction folder, example winrar/7zip etc> dragdrop image(anything) from that, into project window into an exact folder ..and it will fail.. why, this should work, as it does with every other program except unity.

    -Collapsing a component... sure useful.. and yet annoying because at the same time you collapse a component on one gameobject, it will be collapsed on all others (personally I'd rather it be per gameobject, and not globally).. this gets even more stupid, because special functions like void OnDrawGizmos() and other functions, will only be called if the component it is a part of, has not been collapsed! (it can still be enabled!!.. but if its collapsed those functions are no longer called in editor smh).. and so collapse it on one gameobject and it will no longer work on any of the others gameobjects using it aswel.

    Scene Hierarchy
    Take any of the extensions for this (https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/44322) etc, and pick the best features and options.. optimize it so they aren't doing things that cause unnecessary editor sluggishness.. ... honestly simply providing an option to show/hide objects.. would be a start for default usability of the hierarchy in unity.

    Can do the same for multiple scenes.. a simply checkbox for loading/unloading should just be a default thing.. it infact does exist as an extension..


    Project tab...
    -Can start with adding column layout view ..resizable, rearrangable, columns like: size, date modified etc file system path ie( assets/folder/folder/file.ext) with thumbnail view aswel.. (is an editor extension that sort of attempts this i forgot where it is now.. but it was similar to https://bitbucket.org/Tenebrous/unityeditorenhancements/wiki/Home) because it kinda sucks to switch to larger view just to see a preview of texture, and also sucks to find something in a list without any quicker way to see or sort a column by last modified, ie detailed view etc. and it would be helpful for not just the project tab, but also the select texture, asset .. and like this image is a perfect example of the problem...



    ..yup a detailed and sortable column list view..how useful would that be to have in just about everywhere selecting file(s) is involved.

    -I agree its annoying, ontop of having to be aware that some prefabs hold much more than is visibly shown, and is no way to find out or edit without putting them into the scene.

    -There are actual special folders.. but they are kinda crap because you still have to move things in and out of them, or rename existing ones, the ultimate in usability would just be improve the project tab to have more useful features like being able to set the status of a folder/file(script) to be enabled/disabled (maybe some color coding for things), and have that information stored in the .meta files that unity can make use of... that way folders or files you want disabling from being compiled don't have to be moved about, or files/folders renamed.. its would just be right there in the project tab, and graphically shown that is it disabled from being compiled if its a script etc

    speaking meta files I dunno why folder view settings (thumbnail/list etc) for that specific folder aren't stored in the meta file for that folder either...or at least have some other project file that stores this additional stuff.

    Project Settings
    -Just make these menus settings open their own floating window settings.. I hate it always jumping into the inspector panel its annoying as is having to to go through 2 menus to select them (is another extension that provided icon layout for them all but was kinda broken after 5.x ).. and worse none of these setting panels get picked up by the very useful 'inspector navigator'... which frankly should be built in.. I have it squeezed into a single row panel just above the inspector, cus of the annoyance of selecting things always replacing the inspector view.. makes it easier to go back to previously selected things, especially back/forth type workflow.

    Extension plugins
    As far as I know unity have seen the light and are working on this universal thing? so we can have global extensions that will show up in all projects and can be enabled/disabled without having to import entire extension file/folders over and over.... plugin handling interface in the preferences dialog, status bar for active plugin icons? whatever could be good, should do it, UE does it, works alright.

    Global library
    Global library folder for assets/textures, that way multiple projects wanting to make use of the same assets don't have a huge library folder per project that is practically filled with duplicates, and worse every project with a different unity version or build target needs redoing every damn time for the same textures.. which is seriously annoying to wait for for large texture files. Just stick things on a fast ssd and reduce duplicates, maybe provide an management interface for it, process things once, all works from single machine should not need to use node.js server cache crap.

    To go with the global library thing.....

    Archive Export
    Make it easier to export out a project and only what is used, similar to build pipeline using selected scenes where it picks up what is used in scenes and the special folders.. only this would obviously keep the files/folders that the release builds leave out. ...few benefits: it becomes alot quicker to start a new project based on another project and also make it a little easier to create repo projects for bug reports as does most the work of filtering out the unused files, maybe with options to include certain files/folders in its interface.

    Make it part of the bug report stuff aswel.

    <Missing Script>
    afaik this crap actually got some fix, but then got shelved for some unknown reason...personally it can be annoying as hell to fix and have seen it plenty of times with just imported unitypackages aswel, when unity could provide any number of solutions, that would allow the editor to provide some last known filename to go by... that would be helpful.

    As far as artist workflow..
    well you have to go out of unity to do most of this stuff really.. even the terrain ...because really isn't a lot that I see unity doing until they make games with unity to see alot of the shortfalls....its not bad.. at least when you compare it other engines like I dunno cryengine pipeline.. which only got decent fbx import lately, its changing now but I wouldn't say unity is great either... autowreck stingrays closer integration with 3dsmax/maya shows how nice it could be on that area but then they can do that, a built in material/node graph shader editor should be high up on the list for fully supported native integration anyway..and hopefully you make it so its able to translate shaders into nodegraph representations, one of the probs I have with amplify shader editor... it still does not support translating an existing shader simple or complex into being a node graphed version you can more easily visualize where you want to go in and tweak/add/remove things from an existing shader.. can't help but think if unity could put extra resource behind it or there own native version, things could be progressed a lot faster... because its definitely an area where UE and its built in material/shader excel and really helps the artists and developers tailor the look for there game with better material visuals/fx... unity games its all like standard shader stuff- dunno why that is :)

    Terrain tools already mentioned, this time don't forget to add a built in way to make holes in bleh heightmap terrain.

    Don't have any suggestions for 3d animation other than I think the workflow isn't that great from what I have done in using it briefly .. most apparent issue the animator of not being able to zoom in/ out...I mean how many times has it been brought up before it gets fixed..

    Decent level editing tools, with good import/export process that improves the pipeline with working in other dcc apps.. programs like 3dcoat already offer an extension for improving working with unity https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/49457 ..for me unity should be doing exactly what UE are doing with getting good integration with other tools like maya/houdini (built cloth simulation, fur, object fracturing are nice additional things to have built in though), cameras, import/export process that is seamless and hard to screw up with matching scene scaling, exporting with the right tickboxes, etc and actually trying to make it easier to tweak and fix things within unity directly.. without having to go back a bunch of steps to another package to tweak things.. this requires unity getting more tools for taking over these areas itself imo..

    personally I don't see why not... other than time, money and developers to do it ... just become maya unity :D.. mel and python for scripting .. yuck ever since autowreck took it over from Alias, its been on a slow decline instead of the awesome tool it could have been.. just start replacing it, completely, all of it.. in parts anyway lol. The day I use a 4split viewport layout in unity will be the day unity has finally got its stuff together.

    .. I'll do all my modeling, texturing, materials, rigging, animation and rendering in unity 2020 edition right? finally have an game engine/editor that offers all the actual tooling... modders will finally have unity made games being built with an game engine/editor that actually provides all the stuff they could possibly need to make additional maps/levels etc ....and developers should be able to allow this workshop type modding to happen a lot easier instead of just being one huge hassle, ontop of doing it with a game engine that by default requires end users to get a bunch of additional assets just for the basics and even then its eh.
     
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  20. Moonjump

    Moonjump

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    On the texture import settings, Allow the Format to be set for Default.

    This used to be allowed. I reported a bug and apparently it is intended as it helps stop mistakes for beginners. Well it makes mistakes much easier for experienced users and creates more work.

    I work on mobile for multiple platforms. I used to be able to set the texture format for all platforms at once. Now I have to set them individually for each platform, and as I cannot see multiple platforms at once because they are tabs, I have to keep flicking between them to be certain I have got it right.

    As I use different settings for different textures (generally a mix of RGBA 16 bit, RGB 16 bit, RGB 24 bit, RGBA 32 bit, so the first 2 require even more careful checking), I really have to double check. And if I change one, I have to make sure I don't forget to change the other platforms. There is nothing to show I have different settings for each of the platforms I use, so mistakes are hidden.

    It is awful, and very annoying, especially as it used to be better. If you want to make it foolproof for beginners, make it the default behaviour, but provide an option for enabling Default Format.
     
    Nevin likes this.
  21. Baste

    Baste

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    It is possible to override the texture import settings on a global or per-folder basis, but it's a bit of a hassle, and has to be done in script. Here's an example.

    To do it per folder, you can either just put an asset in the folder that sets settings and then check all of the paths of those settings assets against the path of the imported asset. Or, you could have a global storage of settings, and then write a custom editor for folders (which can be done with some creative workarounds), and make that show the settings for that folder.
     
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  22. Lex4art

    Lex4art

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    Overall it good enough for me ).
     
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  23. EiknarF

    EiknarF

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    Hey Nevin, it appears the developer of the tool "custom handles" now works at unity, adam-mechtley

    https://forum.unity3d.com/members/adam-mechtley.1498/

    Just to reiterate the part I'm specifically interested in is visualizing the limits on joints to help with setting up ragdolls
     
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  24. TextusGames

    TextusGames

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    You just keep saying it is in work, without any examples(because there is nothing to show I guess)
    It is in development for almost ten years! (https://feedback.unity3d.com/suggestions/editor-nested-prefabs)
    And still, there is no status report about it no any other information. No official thread there we can post the feedback, suggestions and discuss it.

    If you are really working on it then it is obvious there is not enough effort, because there is no result of 8 years of work to show.

    As for specific wishes.
    1. Create an official thread and let us know about your progress in this feature.
    2. Prefab Nesting
    3. Prefab inheritance
    Examples:
    1. Nesting GUI elements
    2. Nesting prefabs in parent object and save it as a level in oppose to scene
    3. Create reusable groups of objects
    Realization example https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/84495
    (there is currently more than 5 third party solutions of Prefab Nesting)

    Thank You for the answer, but it is the same pointless one which Unity keeps saying for past decade.
     
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  25. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

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    Hi michiel_wouters,

    Thank you for your feedback! We know how cumbersome it is with repetitive workflows in the editor. Would it be possible for you to elaborate more on your workflow with the animation blending? We would love to know more details about the workflows! :)
     
  26. Nevin

    Nevin

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    Hi Vagabond!

    Have a question: Can you elaborate a bit more on the "Flock System"? Is it like a path system that is going to sculpt a random behaviour of a group of objects? Examples I am thinking of are birds and bee swarms...
     
  27. Edy

    Edy

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    • Move the Project Setting options to the toolbar, either as individual buttons or as a drop-down menu for quick access.
    • Assume that a single Unity project may be used for building different binaries. Implement some kind of "build settings" file that could be used for configuring different builds (scenes, project settings, build settings...) within the same project.
    • Prefab system is the single most annoying issue in Unity today. If implemented correctly (nested prefabs, inheritance, ability to edit the components in the entire prefab hierarchy directly) it would incredibly raise the usability and productivity of Unity in most projects overall. Sadly, as @TextusGames points out, "is in the works"(tm) and has been that way for nearly a decade, and we get the same replies from Unity devs year after year.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2017
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  28. webox

    webox

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    Some sort of feedback that shows you that you're modifying a child transform and not the root.
     
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  29. Nevin

    Nevin

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    Hi thom_cat_!

    Thank you so much for the thorough feedback. We really appreciate it :)
     
  30. Vagabond_

    Vagabond_

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    Hi Nevin,

    1. Yes this is exactly what i was thinking about. Fishes, birds, bees etc. groups with random behavior !

    2. Less important:
    Will be good as well if it is possible to implement some really basic Herd AI component. Imagine absolutely random behavior of a single or group of deers walking running to random locations etc. in the wood/mountain... (I understand that this in general should be designed by game designers and programmed by programmers of a game studio, but still will be useful for indi studios and single developers - it is not that important )... Thanks !
     
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  31. Nevin

    Nevin

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    Hi PhilSA,

    Have a question regarding "automatic convex decomposition" - can you elaborate a bit more on your workflow and what problem this will solve for you?
     
  32. Nevin

    Nevin

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    Hi EarMaster,

    Thank you for this feedback! Can you give us a bit more details on how the Splash Screen settings are confusing?
     
  33. Nevin

    Nevin

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    Hi methos5k,

    Regarding your feedback about the Screen Canvas: Could you elaborate a bit more on this? What problem would a Screen Canvas solve for you in your current editor workflow?
     
  34. methos5k

    methos5k

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    Yes, sure, I actually realized my post was a bit incomplete and just edited it a min ago to explain what I meant.
    However, can't say that's perfectly in line with what you're looking for "workflow" - Sorry.. Maybe I got carried away with "laundry list of wishes" :)
    (I solved my own issues through code, but can imagine not everyone does/bothers).
     
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  35. Nevin

    Nevin

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    Hi Martin_Charriere,

    Thank you for the feedback! Can you elaborate a bit more on your workflows with extensible tangents in the animation window? And also - how would you want to use the Beziers path in Scene view?
     
  36. xCyborg

    xCyborg

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    Oh man I've been waiting for this.

    0- Shader node editor with full interoperability with script, this is a priority, but take your time to nail it.
    0.5- UV/Vertex maps previewer in the model importer (it's weird we don't have that one yet).
    1- Improved snapping tools (edge, face, visual indicator, etc).
    2- Ability to edit the pivot directly in the viewport (currently you have to do it outside or use a parent locator).
    3- Layout, align and distribution tools (array, radial, match transformation, random scatter, space, follow curve, etc).
    4- Visual feedback for the above (like measure and distance tools and grid lines and relative transform etc).
    5- Repeat command, and maybe action history or macro.
    6- Spline and curve tools with waypoint system.
    7- Visual tween engine coupled with solid API.
    8- Shake up the Inspector, Hierarchy, and Project windows a little bit, there is some good asset store plugins for reference.
    9- Wider support for Multi-object editing, like Event Trigger component.
    10- Last but not least, MORE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS and more customizability.

    I would be happy if I get half of those, but secretly hoping for over-deliverance.
     
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  37. Vagabond_

    Vagabond_

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2014
    Posts:
    1,148
    Hi guys i have another suggestion (request)...

    What do you think of adding "Time of the day / Daylight" system - refer to the one in 3ds max:

    1. To be able to set the date and day time manually or automatically by speed multiplier
    2. To be able to load a Directional (Sun) Light into a light field and have an option to get the light automatically rotate in the game based on the day time ( If the Light is loaded in the Lighting system we will get automatic sky box colors adjusted based on the daytime as well )

    Many games could benefit from such system (for example a survival game) as well as some Asset Store developers which are implementing their own Daylight systems.

    LocationDayTime.png
     
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  38. Lars-Steenhoff

    Lars-Steenhoff

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2007
    Posts:
    3,521
    Wacom pressure support in all painting tools. as well as instancing tools that allow pen pressure and tilt to be used for placement of instaces.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2017
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  39. PhilSA

    PhilSA

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2013
    Posts:
    1,926
    This would be rather straightforward. Automatic convex decomposition is needed because concave colliders are not only very costly, but also don't work in certain situations (for sweeptest, computeponotration, and sometimes yield incorrect spherecast results). In short; concave colliders should never be used, because a convex collider setup will always be better.

    The workflow I imagine would be something like this:
    • There would be a "convex decomposition wizard", which is a window that you open up through the menu
    • The wizard starts out by asking you to drag n drop a MeshRenderer or SkinnedMeshRenderer component in a field, which represents the geometry that has to be decomposed
    • You then have sliders to tweak the amount of separate parts you want, and the accuracy/ resolution of the colliders
    • Finally, you press a button and the wizard adds all the generated convex mesh colliders alongside the given MeshRenderer
     
  40. Reanimate_L

    Reanimate_L

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2009
    Posts:
    2,788
    So from artist view. I'm just gonna put all i can think of :D

    1. Built in Vertex Painter
    having something as close as this one https://github.com/slipster216/VertexPaint , faster and improved would be awesome. With addition multiple painting mode that we can choose (vertex based of course) vertex color, flow/directional map, and vertex normal (great for blending mesh to mesh, and mesh to terrain)

    2. Built In Spline System
    Built in Spline System Component, API and Renderers would really help artist when building the scenes.
    please check UE4 Spline System, artist can used it to extrude custom mesh via spline for roads, cables, tunnel etc. It can be used to clone objects via spline.

    3. Improved Terrain System Creation
    This is from artist workflow view, so there's might be something i missed for other team

    Faster and intuitive terrain sculpt and texture painting, would be awesome if it can have the same feel just like sculpting in zbrush, at least for the heightmap and smooth brush.

    4. Built in Decals System
    Built in Deffered Decals, Geometry decal projector (Might be just by improve the existing Projector system), and Terrain decals system.

    5. Road and river Decal
    this might be related to Spline system, terrain system, and decals.
    but having a built in road tool that can affect terrain smoothing, height and might be texture on terrain is great. also for river.

    6. Object Painter
    Could be related to terrain, but can work separately. Basically a tools to paint/place prefab just like how we paint trees,grasses on terrain. But this separated from the terrain editor and paint on meshes. Of course it can be customized and extended.

    7. Node Based Material and shader editor
    Something like playmaker shader editor or shaderforge, but also support image effect shader creation

    8. Visual Scripting
    What @hippocoder said :D

    9. Built in Ocean/Water System
    Infinite water system
    and localized water system


    10. Fix the FOCUS "F" Mode


    11. More BRDF and shading model
    Translucent, subsurface scattering, Anisotropic/Hair, Clear Coat

    12.Realtime area light
    Rectangle, Tubes, Sphere, Box Shaped realtime light, and might be with area shadow :D

    13. Stationary/Static Shadow
    Static shadow cast from static object to dynamic object in mixed mode
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#!/content/79454 <- this

    14. Realtime Planar Reflection
    Proper realtime planar reflection capture/probes component. Great for Water reflection

    15. Contact Shadow
    i'm not going to ask some kind of high detail screen space contact shadow, having some kind of indirect soft shadow like what UE4 and Naughty Dogs did when dynamic object not in the direct light area would be awesome.
    You know what, maybe also add the high detail screen space contact shadow.

    16.Mecanim Improvement
    - Zoom able animator window
    - Attach/detach blend trees motions
    - Unlock the nodes position in Animator window. Afaik the bleendtrees nodes position are locked it can't be moved/arranged freely
    Anyway for the animator window improvement might better if unified with other node based system that added in unity (Shader/Material node editor and visual scripting).

    17.CSG or Basic 3d Modeller
    This is great for greyboxing and level designing

    Rea out.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2017
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  41. TwiiK

    TwiiK

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2007
    Posts:
    1,729
    An easier way of previewing complex particle systems, i.e. game objects with multiple nested particle systems

    As far as I can tell there seems to be only one way of accomplishing this currently and that's putting by a particle system on the top level game object which will cause every child particle system to play at the same time, but this also causes the entire nested particle system to play even if you have just one of the children selected. Then you have to manually turn off every other particle system in the effect when you want to tweak or test a child particle system.

    In my opinion it should work like this:
    • You have a top level game object with your scripts, audio sources and whatnot and it could also have a particle system, but that doesn't matter.
    • You put the particle systems making up the different components of your effect as children of this top level game object.
    • If you have the top level game object selected every particle system that's on it or a child of it plays just like today.
    • But if you select a child then only that child and its children play.
    • And you should also be able to CTRL or Shift select multiple children to test and tweak multiple component effects together.
    And ideally you should be able to edit multiple particle systems at the same time similar to how you can most other components.

    These are just naive suggestions. If I had access to and knowledge of Unity's inner workings then I could perhaps think of a smarter way to solve this, but currently it's very clumsy to create and tweak complex particle effects, unless there's something obvious I've missed.

    Edit: I realize that this means that every single particle system in your hierarchy would play if you selected the root game object in your scene, but these are issues Unity would have to figure out when fixing this. Perhaps a dedicated particle preview window or whatnot.
     
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  42. RockoDyne

    RockoDyne

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2014
    Posts:
    2,234
    I think I'll just complain about asset management.
    • It should be possible to filter out everything that isn't your own assets from the project view. I don't need to see plugins, editor extensions, and standard assets all the time, much less have it show up in search.
    • Speaking of search, there should be a search view that keeps the folder structure. The view should just filter out folders that don't contain a match.
    • ... which would also be great for the object picker (and while that's being worked on, make scriptable objects within the scene show up too).
    • Package management. At least let me choose where to unpack assets.
     
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  43. MudPuppet

    MudPuppet

    Joined:
    Aug 10, 2012
    Posts:
    162
    Hello, I am a veteran 3d artist/animator. The only few things that I can think of that I believe would assist or improve workflow are...
    1. More Mesh Snapping Options (to polygon Face, to polygon Edge etc)
    2. Being able to better control or manipulate an objects Pivot Point i.e.: in Maya I can move a meshes pivot point anywhere that I want and it will stay there but I can still access local/global control if I need to.
    3. Wireframe Color/Thickness i.e.: BoxCollider and being able to change the display color or line thickness for display in the Scene View. As another example imagine you are using a BoxCollider as a Trigger for spawning enemies. Often it can be hard to pick/select the right collider object because it is surrounded by other colliders or even meshes (this is even difficult in Wireframe View).
    4. Rulers and Guides - self explanatory really, just look at almost all Adobe products.

    Sorry if any of this has already been mentioned.
     
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  44. vertxxyz

    vertxxyz

    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2014
    Posts:
    109
    Not only should there be better mesh snapping options there should also be single-axis snapping. Where you can use an axis handle and snap to whatever you're hovering but only move to meet it along that axis.
     
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  45. Nevin

    Nevin

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2012
    Posts:
    30
    Hi Sam!

    Thank YOU so much for this extensive feedback. Likewise, OUR hearts here in UX Team blew up with joy when we received your feedback. All your feedback is noted and the UX Team is sending you lots of gratitude and hearts in return! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 It's nice to know that someone is watching over us :)
     
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  46. laurentlavigne

    laurentlavigne

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2012
    Posts:
    6,225
    Inspector navigation: forward and backward arrows like on a browser
    inspector navigation.png
     
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  47. ZJP

    ZJP

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2010
    Posts:
    2,649
    This. Thanks.
     
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  48. Ziboo

    Ziboo

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2011
    Posts:
    356
    Hi,

    I won't talk to much about the features that should be there since a long time, but be sure that we all waiting for them:
    - Nested Prefab
    - Spline support
    - Shader editor
    - ....

    Multiscene editing
    1. Option to set a scene as the "Master" scene for lighting settings. It is just horrible to activate an other scene and the lighting changes. Most of the time people have a "Master" scene with all controllers and lighting, sky, ...
    2. A sort of dropdown on top of the hierarchy window to select the active scene, if so, only display the hierarchy of the selected scene.
    3. Please Please fix this : switching the active scene doesn't refresh opened windows like Lighting, Navigation, Occlusion, ... you have to close the window, double click your scene, reopen the window....
    4. Some sort of group support ? Layer support ? This would be to resolve the horrible pain to scrolldown for hours to just parent a children to another object
    AssetDatabase
    1. Build in support to easily add custom import settings to a folder that would act on its children
    2. CSV Support ?
    3. Double clicking a prefab should open it in it's own tab, think Unreal (sry)
    Shaders
    1. Option to remove/hide builtin shaders... I want my artists to use specific shaders but having all of them by default doesn't make the task easy.
    2. Find a good way for people to be able to extend the Standard Shader without breaking it if updated. I think a guy talk about it in a Unite talk, said that they found a way to add custom properties and editor on top of the Standard shader. and everything works fine when they would update Unity
    Project Management
    1. When creating a new project, it would be very nice to have more options. Right now we have 3D/2D. You could add for ex: Platform, Deferred/Forward, Linear/Gama, ....
    UX
    1. Add more stuff to the top bar (there is a lot of empty space right now), going inside the menus is painfull, loosing so much time
    2. Graphics options everywhere ! You gonna have to explain me that, I just don't get it, it's so bad ux.
      If I want to change the color space: Edit > Project Settings > Color Space
      If I want to change the rendering path: Edit > Project settings > Graphics Settings
      If I want to change the shadows quality: Edit > Project settings > Quality Settings
      Oo This is so bad...
    Editor Tools
    1. Big pain to make tools that works well with the Personnal and Pro Skin... please do something... give the pro skin to everyone or make some helper class that would ease the task (GetDefaultColor, GetTextColor,...). I still love you Unity, extending the editor is just the best Unity feature

    I'm glad that Unity will focus on artists this year. Can't wait.

    Cheers
     
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  49. CDF

    CDF

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2013
    Posts:
    1,307
    Agree with everything already said.

    However, the lack of a 3D teapot primitive is deeply concerning.

    On a more serious note, some simple primitive mesh generation options would be nice... segments, width, height, radius, anchor...

    Before I forget... When I saw this I laughed out loud:

    https://blogs.unity3d.com/2016/10/11/building-for-reuse-mecanim-on-recore/



    Sure, it's a complex game with some complex animation, but, that to me looks like a nightmare. And it's not even the full graph :|
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2017
  50. Alverik

    Alverik

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2016
    Posts:
    417
    I second all of these, specially the terrain and vegetation systems (and built-in ocean or water bodies). Support for more trees and grass quantity too! And the current speedtree is rather slow... Maybe even an ecosystem tool, like they have in software packages like eon-vue where you define areas to be populated with your desired trees using splines loops, and other means (though not necessarily as advanced). Built-in Triplanar shader, with UV resizing by distance for the terrains would be awesome too (considering practically everyone needs those, it's hard to believe there are no built-in shaders with those features).

    A built-in behaviour tree for AI would be awesome (Adam Myhill from Cinemachine mentioned they're wanting to add a Blackboard for some of their functionality, so it could very well be shared with other systems). Or something like ICE creature control. Unity really is low on the AI side... you'll really only find pathfinding and that's it...

    Also, the fast and good looking cloth simulation from this guy that appeared in Unite 2016:



    Umm, as the list goes on I wonder if it wouldn't be easier for unity to just buy and integrate some asset store tools instead, lol, like Dungeon Architect or Terrain composer 2/Gaia/Gena, etc (it would actually be seriously cool, lol).

    PS: Oh, and before I forget: you could work with SabreCSG (now open source). And also allow Zooming in and out in the Animator window (either its not possible or I have completely missed how to do it...).
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2017
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