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18 Ideas for Unity

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Fritsl, May 2, 2017.

?

Should Unity hire me?

  1. Yes

  2. No

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  1. Fritsl

    Fritsl

    Joined:
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    Dear Friends and Professionals working with Unity,
    EDIT: I originally placed myself in a mine field here by letting this post have a rather immature and naive 'Hey guys, should Unity not hire me to fix everything' - approach.

    That was probably stupid, in a forum like this, sorry. So I tried to delete the post and it was restored, ha, I'm stuck with my own actions!

    OK, I had some points in my post - Even though I took on the wrong approach of communicating them, so here are my points for the next Googler etc:


    1) Recent Scene / Open Scene
    • Number of times we open a new Project: 1
      Number of times we open a new Scene: 100

      Which is in sharp contrast *) to:
    • User Interface to open a new Project: Nice
      User Interface to open a new Scene: .. ..!

      *) - If you are making Games, and not Games Engine - which goes for all of the below as well:
      I speak for Us, the Users, Unity seen from the outside.
    Goals:
    1. Create a standard 'Recent Scenes' under File menu - like any other program have had since 1999
    2. Make sure 'Open Scene' lists relevant Scenes for me
    3. Also make a standard 'Save project as' to do quick local backups, forks etc.


    2) Import FBX without Rotation issues

    How many here have had to import an FBX from a leading 3D application, and found that there's a build in issue with some x@270/zForward-different-standards?


    Let's get that fixed now: We are after all going to be importing more FBX's in time to come!

    Goals:
    1. Preferences should have a general setting with check boxes under Import, like Up: Z
      No mysterious hacks of inserting with a non 0 rotation, but override/redo inside engine!
      A drop down should let you chose premade settings for major 3D software packages
      Size should also be set via this dropdown
    2. Inspector / Model should let you override / Set individually for each / bulk select and change all to for example Z up.
    In worst case: Do it behind the lines Unity, just as Quaternion is the actual rotation, but we see Vector3, do an internal wrapper that we will never need to know about.


    3) Let us browse our already downloaded asset store packages without waiting for the browser to load

    The title should be self explaining.

    Goal: When entering the Asset store, all our already downloaded assets should appear as quickly as when we do any other standard file browsing. The browser can load in the background and update when ready.


    4) Remove camera space Canvas from our Scenes, please.

    First was Unity: A games engine that made everything easy, BUT doing the UI in your game (who needs UI in a game anyway?). That situation gave birth to nGUI - which was obviously a hack. A good hack, but a hack.

    That hack became - in a new form - uGUI. But it's still a hack. What on earth is going on with the UI in the middle of the game scene and something as specialized as UI to use the same tools as is made to do RigidBodies?

    Goal: We need to provide a 'Camera Space' in the Editor: A closed and specialized window & interface to do UI - and do it nice. Like really nice, in a focused tool.


    5) Let next generation Unity UI parse HTML on all levels

    Unity's variations of UI, across Editor and uGUI is done with such things as GUILayout.FlexibleSpace, GUILayout.BeginHorizontal, EditorGUILayout.BeginHorizontal and uGui.. it's a ton of mixed technologies with mixed levels of documentation, and basic things such as Unity's interface that will not scale to larger screen sizes and the need to learn different layout systems is the result.


    The interesting part here is that it all tries to do what HTML5 is already doing. So why not lay it in the roadmap: Get all things UI ported to be parsed HTML?

    Unity's interface will be able to scale with your screen resolution, and instead of training people to learn new tricks, you as a producer can get hold of skilled web artists to do your games UI. And you can port a simple website to UI instead of having to do it over.

    There's already multiple free HTML parsers ready to be used.

    Goal: Get HTML parsing into the Unity long term roadmap.



    6) Remove the Zoom function from default Game view.
    • Number of times I want to play my Scene without Zooming: 1,000
    • Number of times I want to Zoom into Game window to see Pixels: 0.01f
    • Number of times I'm accidentally Zooming: Way too many
    That prominent screen real estate can be used for so many useful functions instead!
    Goal: Let Game Zoom be some far away hidden feature that can not be triggered by accident.




    7) Add simple 1-click shortcuts for common tasks such as rotate 90 and simple array

    It's nice to have an uncluttered interface, but frankly: How many steps is needed to rotate that prefab 180 degrees from the current 37.98 on the Y axis? It should be just 2 clicks, right?

    RRR <- That much space is all it would take to have instant access to probably the most common rotate modifier: Rotate 90 on Either X, Y or Z. Shift click to rotate 90 the other way.

    Do you think you would use those more than you use the Zoom-slider in Game view? It's smaller!

    MMM <- Click those and you get instant Arrays: Each click on Blue M adds one more on the Blue axis, because rather often we do not just want to place one object, but many. Shift to make less.

    .. etc

    I'm not going to go deeper into what buttons could be there or advertise my own assets here, but I have systems like this going in my sandbox tool called Mess Manager in the Asset store, and it's really effective. Unreal Engine has similar shortcut buttons to common functions by the way: It's nice for people who make games.

    Goal: Get a couple of the most used functions as shortcuts into the free space at the top of the Editor window.



    8) Enable instantiation placement based on boundaries as well as collider

    If your Scene is not filled with colliders, yet you have a plane ground and want to place a tree on it?
    With Unity you Drag-drop it into.. mid air .. If there's no collider on where you drag-drop to.

    It's really easy to enable snap to bounding box, again something in my own tools in the asset store. However it too should be native and not a hack one can download from the asset store.

    Goal: Enable all types of Snap and Auto drop on 9 bounding box corners & mids.



    9) Enable (box / Sphere / etc) collider import from model
    Again something Unreal has:

    Why not just use your 3D app to place boxes and let Unity import them as Colliders instead of all the trouble of trying to use Unity's Inspector to make boxes fit?

    Goal: Enable 'Use transforms with certain naming conventions as Colliders on Import'



    10) Enable FBX to prefab on the fly

    So, your 3D artist made 200 FBX's and you want to use them as 'Prefabs' *) ?
    Don't think it's effective that you have to instantiate each, then drag back to make Prefabs out of them?

    *) Yes, I know, technically an FBX in Unity is a type of Prefab, but I mean 'real prefab' here ;)

    Goal: Bulk-select & turn into Prefabs from FBX files in Project view



    11) Add 'Solo' button to particle systems
    When working on Particle systems with child emitters over multiple GameObjects, how often would you not like to click Solo to Only see only this one Shuriken system that you edit right now?

    It's a feature known in all Music software: Solo - it simple just let's you listen to one track. Click again and all is on as before.

    Goal: Add Solo button to Particle systems



    12) Embed material in Prefabs
    That might take most people out of their comfort zone, but think about it:

    Why are Materials not an intigrated non-removeable part of Prefabs like for example transforms?

    How often would you wish back to when you could share a material over multiple GameObjects -- if by default a Material was as closely embedded as for example a Prefab's RigidBody or transform? Would you actually need to share materials on different Prefabs / GameObjects?

    We are not talking Shaders or Textures, but Materials.

    Why would you in fact ever want to have shared materials over multiple GameObjects as it stands now where you cannot even inherit a Material Class and do local variations?

    Do you actually need a hundred unused materials files floating around in auto generated folders for each time you import a model?

    Do you want all the wasted ones you have right now?

    Do you like to have shared materials with the imported models from the Asset store in your project?

    How many times have a shared material given you problems? And what has it given you?

    If Materials where an embedded part of GameObjects you could access a GameObjects material and copy-paste it - from Script as well. Like when you copy a transform now. (Imagine if Transforms where free floating files like Materials, that would suck, right? But what's the difference?)


    If they where embedded you would get a trillion files less in your project, and no more problems with shared materials making one thing blue because another needed it, which would also make import form Asset store a much cleaner ting.

    If Materials where bound to a GameObject the way I consider it done as Classes, you could even have a common 'ShinyMetal', and do Red, Blue And Green class children on other GameObjects.

    Goal: Do a serious consideration on possibly eradicating free floating Materials files


    13) Make a hard-coded folder for all asset store downloads and add clean checkout-to-my-project options


    The asset store is a great thing, but it makes a mess. Let's take that serious, and set up a system so all Asset store downloads by default lands in a hardcoded folder. In there you can test, but itsø not a part of your project yet.

    Then, let's add import system to the protected area functionality, a process where all FBX files imported are placed in one folder with a hardcoded name, all cubemaps in one folder with another hardcoded name, all.. instead of the random and invasive mess it is today.

    Then you can delete the Asset from the Import folder and keep what you actually needed instead of now where it's up to you to clean up and a mess is made already after a couple of imported assets.

    Goal: Set future asset store up to import to a closed area, and make a checkout & import system that keeps all imports in nice folders, so you can delete the Asset import once you have only imported the parts you need.



    14) Make instant prefab in scene- browser

    I Know there's a new prefab preview system on the way, but it appears overly complex compared to just being able to browse prefabs right in the Scene.

    Goal: Set up a scroll-able simple and fast prefab browser that let you scroll or 'swipe' to the prefab you need, and have it already instantiated where you are.


    15) Add right click drop down in scene view

    Instantiate as child, replace prefab, revert to prefab, reset scale, rotation.. s simple context sensitive right click drop down menu is not too much to ask for a modern tool to set up scenes in 3D, right?

    Goal: Implement common tools context sensitive right click drop down menu in Scene view


    16) Native export Scene as FBX
    This is something I really miss in Unity from working with unreal: Native dump scene or selection as FBX.

    I think it's hard to realize until it's tried how effective it is and how much we need it in Unity:

    When you build scenes and need to add more models, it's tremendously helpful to be able to import your entire scene into your 3D package with a few clicks, and then right in the copy of the scene do any modeling. Also of new characters etc, to have things in scale and perspective.

    Mind you, you can even save your new 3D art with transform already embedded, so all you have to do is save, and insert, then your Scene has that exact thing you modeled to fit exactly, and already placed exactly where it should be!!

    Goal: Enable Native Export Scene as FBX


    17) Include hard coded Game classes option

    Unity is for making Games, right? Individual games of course, but they tend to have some 'soft' non-technical things in common:

    Such as the fact that there is a Player, there is often a Score, a level, pain caused, player control, game control..

    As it is now with Unity, only Technical Classes exists, so everyone are doing their own thing when it comes to constructing the basics of game handling.

    The wheel are invented over and again and sometimes it's not exactly wheels that are invented.

    Goal: Let Unity embed native support a series of very open, very well thought through common Game classes to help us all get started faster, let projects be easier to understand and game-supportive functionality can better be developed in the future


    18) Link all documentation pages with a user wiki

    It's so simple: On Any page in the already auto generated Unity Documentation, specially on the Scripting API, just add a link:

    User Wiki and discussions on [this topic]

    In other words: Why on earth do we have to have information scattered all over the place and use Google to try and make sense when we are looking on how to use a function?

    Let's make it possible to easily share all the good use cases we come up with, I'm sure that would quickly lift the value of the documentation, and not as now contribute to an ever growing number of forums and scattered tutorials.

    Thank you!
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2017
    Alverik likes this.
  2. carking1996

    carking1996

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    I don't agree with some of these..
     
    QFSW and zombiegorilla like this.
  3. Kiwasi

    Kiwasi

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    Do it on the asset store. If it's successful, you'll get intergrated.
     
  4. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    I don't agree with many points here.

    #5. Having GUI as html is backwards and a very poor idea. A better idea is using similar approach to Qt framework. However... current Begin/End approach, despite being unorthodox, allows highly dynamic GUI that changes based on script state. Doing this in any other way will be royal pain.

    #6. I use zoom all the time

    #7. The approach you chose for rotating is not good. Euler angles are best avoided. Are much better approach to keyboard rotation is used in blender 3d. That's what I'd like to see.

    #12. I definitely wouldn't want materials to be embedded into prefabs. Sharing of materials is not too uncommon, and in general materials are best decoupled from their objects/ characters. Besides, it is fairly common for some object pack to have an uber-material that covers multiple objects. For performance reasons.

    #13. No hard-coded folders.

    #15. Right click in scene view is not terribly useful, actually. Functionality offered by right click - flythrough view - is much more useful. RIghtclick is already available in hierarchy view, by the way.

    #16. FBX is a bad format tied to proprietary autodesk sdk. The best idea is to avoid it. If I remember correctly, there are multiple export solutions available on asset store, and they're not too hard to write from scratch.

    #17. I'd rather see no "Game" classes, especially hard-coded ones. This approach is used in Unreal Engine, and most of the time it seems to get in the way instead of doing something useful. You can already have "Game Classes" using MonoBehaviors.

    #18. User wiki, at the moment, is best avoided, because all content on it is placed under CC-BY-SA license.This makes all content useless. Besides, after dealing with this little gem from the wiki: http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php/SimpleJSON I'd say the best idea would be to stay away from it.
    -----

    I strongly dislike your attempt to get community support in order to get unity job. If you're any good, you should grab your portfolio and go through their hiring process.

    Besides, nothing really stops you from implementing many of those fixes and releasing them to the public. For the greater good or something like that.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2017
    Stardog, Martin_H, Ryiah and 2 others like this.
  5. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    https://feedback.unity3d.com
    https://careers.unity.com

    If you have the experience, apply. Like any company of this scale, your prior experience is going to be a key in getting hired. Much of what you have said is known, or has been suggested, and in some cases not practical. Or, as said, is available via the asset store or wiki. (Mesh exporting, transform resets.)
     
  6. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    Additionally,
    1) already exists: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/17592
    2) just bake the rotation when exporting. Axis differences are inherent to the program being used. Changing it is unnecessary and would break older stuff.
    7) http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php/TransformInspector
    10) https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/AssetPostprocessor.html
    16) http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=ObjExporter
     
  7. Kiwasi

    Kiwasi

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    If you are just looking for a job in general, I would suggest narrowing your focus some. It's also worth looking specifically at how Unity is structured.

    One would need to be hired at a relatively senior management position to make everything in the OP happen. Its a bunch of strategic desicions across a wide array of departments. One doesn't get hired for such a role without demonstrated experience.

    It's also likely there is any one role that could make all of this happen. And there certainly isn't one role that could do the implementation and the strategy across the board.
     
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  8. karl_jones

    karl_jones

    Unity Technologies

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    I read the deleted post ;)

    We do currently have UX people who are working to improve the experience.

    Your suggestions span across several teams(Editor, UI, Core, Particles, Docs etc) so one person would be very unlikely to do all of them however its not impossible. We have a lot of freedom and autonomy so if we see something missing we can go ahead and do it but it will need the team that owns the area to approve of it.

    Some of the suggestions have come up before and are not implemented for a reason and others already exist as pointed out by other users.
    The docs wiki issue comes up a lot. It is a decision by the docs team to not include one. More here:
    https://blogs.unity3d.com/2017/01/26/unity-documentation-in-2017/

    The ParticleSystem solo button is an interesting idea though, I may have a go and prototype it although I think it may be possible by using highlight selected. I'll have to check :D

    You can send in unsolicited applications! https://careers.unity.com/find-position
    I did it myself and its my two year anniversary today :cool:
    You have nothing to lose by doing it!
     
    BIGTIMEMASTER, chelnok and Fritsl like this.
  9. Eric5h5

    Eric5h5

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    The reason it's not possible to delete topics is because this is a public forum and nobody "owns" topics; deleting one would mean deleting all the responses, and it's unlikely everybody else would agree to that.

    --Eric
     
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  10. Ryiah

    Ryiah

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    What advantage was there to deleting the post? It isn't like everyone said they disagreed with every point. Now we're left with a bunch of responses and no context for them.
     
  11. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    Post restored, please don't ruin conversations by deleting context. Editing is for edits.
     
  12. ChazBass

    ChazBass

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    I read through your post and would point out a couple of things:

    1) Almost everything you suggest has been discussed here many times, discussions which can be found on dedicated threads for improving Unity. Did you even read those threads? Did you look at the Unity roadmap?

    2) I certainly do not agree with much of what you propose, so I would say you definitely do not represent my views. Based on the responses above, I would say quite a few folks feel the same way.

    3) Taking this sort of approach to trying to get a job with Unity is extremely odd. I get why you tried. Stand out. Take the road untraveled... But there is a clear method for applying for a unsolicited position as has been pointed out. Throwing that out the window is likely going to destroy not help your chances.
     
    Fritsl likes this.
  13. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Could you be more specific?
     
  14. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Thanks, I appreciate your feedback, I can understand that my attempt of being a little fresh air did not work out, and I appreciate you letting me know. Cheers.
     
  15. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Sorry - I wanted to hear if people inside this forum felt like I experience people talk on in the offices I work in, and clearly there's a big difference. I realized that after reading the responses, and did not want to be the trouble maker, seeing what I read as a lot of negative response, I figured I did not contribute with anything good here, so I wanted to delete it and let focus be elsewhere.
     
  16. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Thanks. You are of course 100% right, and your points are spot on. I'm sorry that my post's angle messed up my intention.
     
  17. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    1) I am aware, and I have made one myself as well. I do however think this should be native: I do not think it's optimal to have to have editor what should be standard extensions inserted in your game project as outside hacks.

    2) I am aware one can bake rotation when exporting, and so most of my models are looking down instead of forward when I Export. However this baking could be done by the FXB import in Unity, so that not every day all these imports into Unity would have to be baked face down.

    7) Yes, I am aware that we can all do overrides of the Transform Inspector. However, what happens if you have 2 overrides? There is also a couple of Reset-dropdowns, but what I am talking about is something along the lines of what you see in the Top Right corner of the Editor window here:
    https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/images/Engine/UI/LevelEditor/UE4Interface_5.jpg
    - Only i think they should be not placed inside the actual Editor window, but use the space where there's currently a Zoom which is not needed by me or anyone I know.

    10) I am not able to understand why that link is a point in itself without a comment?

    16) Just like 1: I think it would be greatly beneficial if it was native and not a hack (and not OBJ, by the way)

    Thanks for your feedback!
     
  18. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Thanks for your comments on all levels.
    You write in the style of
    #13 No hard-coded folders
    - which leads me to not respond to every input. I mean: Unity has already hard coded folders. And you write how Unreals core game Classes get's in your way most of the time, I guess it's all a matter of opinion, and I appreciate yours, it's valuable to learn why things are as they are with Unity, because my opinions are not alone, thanks.

    Oh, PS: I'm not a great programmer, and it's not possible for me to get all I would like to see done happen in an asset and expect people to spend time reading and learning all my thoughts.

    However, I did actually make an asset that addresses many of my ideas and brings solutions to many other topics. It's completely drowning in the asset store, never get any views, and it's not my intend to use this space to advertise it - Just saying that I actually have made fixes, as you suggest - first I released for free, not shown by the asset store, now it has a price tag because maybe that'd give it exposure, still no exposure, which I appreciate and am not complaining about, but it's not that I have not made these tools, for the record.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2017
  19. Eric5h5

    Eric5h5

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    Which is bad. And frequently requested to be gotten rid of. Anything hard-coded is bad...it may seem "easy" at first, but never actually works out for the best in reality.

    --Eric
     
    neginfinity likes this.
  20. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    I did, thanks.

    The approach of 'Let it happen in the asset store' or 'We can all override the inspectors' is the problem that I try to address.

    I think there are core UX issues that should be addressed, and much of these are that the /Asset folder needs to be filled up with a mess from the asset store.

    When development goes 'Hack it first, then implement it', it all tends to be hacks with sugar - like uGui for instance. IMO it's said pretty well with this old timer:

    "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses" - Henry Ford.

    The essence of my rambling was supposed to be that since so many are repeating what I repeated, so many implementations of fix exists, then maybe it's not the best thing to have it happen though the Asset store in the Project folder, maybe it should be implemented, and I meant to suggest implementations made by visionary who took a direction, not to fight a war of 'you write it yourself if you need id, stupid, don't need your opinions here' or 'let's see what hacks are popular and then implement them'.
     
  21. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Thanks for the heads up -- I'll do just that then: Think about it :)
     
  22. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Hi Karl, Congratulations! I've send you a private message to address some of your good points. Cheers.
     
  23. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    None of these things are "hacks". One of the biggest and most powerful features of Unity is the depth and ability to extend the editor. Many of the things you listed are just your preferences. Whereas other developers will have other preferences. And different projects will have different requirements. It would impossible to create workflow and production solutions that fit every developer and type of project. Instead, they built in the ability to extend, customize and create flows easily to optimize individual usage and flow. As you can clearly see from this thread, with even a very small selection of users, that your desires aren't the same as others. Hence the beauty of customizing your environment, workflow and pipeline.

    2) Different 3d apps have different axis setups. Unity is z-forward. If you are building content for use in Unity, you need to adapt your workflow or export process to accommodate that. In most apps is nothing more than a check box in your export window.

    7) you can customize it however you like to best fit your own needs or your projects needs. You can easily place it in the scene window, or a editor window or hot-keys or whatever. Alternatively, there are tons of great existing solutions available via the the asset store and other places. I frequently use the zoom slider, as do other developers. Again, no single solution will please everyone.

    10) as everything above, you have the ability to customize virtually every part of your workflow/pipeline via Unity's editor API. I linked to the AssetPostProcessor, this allows you to perform any actions you need to speed up your workflow. You want to create prefabs from fbx source, automatically? Simple, that is a line or two of code. How about on import, create prefabs, change all materials to different shaders, split up animations and automatically wire up an animation statemachine, generate assetbundles and then store/update references to them in a cdn/spreadsheet/db or cms? No problem. all easily doable. Again, what you are asking for isn't necessarily the common usage, adding that flow to the editor may not be something most developers would want (I certainly wouldn't). But if, for you, it is an optimal solution, you absolutely can have it! Right now! In literally less time than it took you to post about it.

    Learn to love extending the editor, it is powerful, and gives you immense power to optimize your workflow and productivity. Again, not of these are hacks, they are part of the tools that Unity built for you. Learn them, use them. love them, abuse them.

    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/69997
     
  24. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    In practice we call this "coder's shame". In larger studios I have worked in, if you hardcoded anything, even as a hotfix, your name went into the comments, and you were expected to eventually resolve it.
     
  25. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    I Think you should let people know where that button is, I am not aware of any solution not ending up with a -90 on X or the need to bake face down before export?

    As for the general 'You just write it yourself' - comments: I did. And I still think it's hacks. My hacks can be found here if you care:
    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/85595
    I'm not an experienced programmer (I'm a tech artist), and I think it's unhealthy that there's an approach of 'You can just write a couple of lines of C# to get things done' from people who know how to write these couple of lines, not considering that there are users that are not programmers.

    I appreciate your input and will consider them, thanks.
     
  26. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    It is all about proper context. This is in no way a problem, it is a very intentional feature and a very powerful one. Again, "hacks" is completely the wrong term. Niche desires and tools are not only acceptable, they are actively supported, encouraged and even have their own marketplace, where you can sell or share your solutions to. On occasion, some editor extensions do end up actually beneficial to a majority of users, and they do become part of the editor, but these are typically powerful tools with wide benefit.
     
  27. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    There's hard coded Tags. And Layers. And axis. etc. I appreciate that Folders inside Project view is not something we want.

    I still think there's a need to not guide standard usage of Asset store downloads into a chaotic project.
     
  28. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    Difficulty of scripting for unity is lower than difficulty of writing a self-contained app, though. Skills you need for daily unity usage should be sufficient for writing the kinds of tools @zombiegorilla listed.
     
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  29. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Thank you.

    I DID WRITE MY OWN TOOL AND IT IS IN THE ASSET STORE! :D

    But that was not my point here.

    We can just override inspector and make tools.. I think Unity NATIVE should address some issues, like the ones I wrote in OP. Native is the key, problems that are very common issues. I'm not trying to fight the die hard community fans (oops, just did it right there :D) I meant to point out that there are things that everyone fights, I tried to state that, I missed apparently, I tried to delete and now everyone write to me that I can just write my own tools. I did. Point is I think it should be native. Thanks. :D
     
  30. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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    Here's my asset - to show you that I am perfectly aware that I can write my own tools :)
     
  31. Fritsl

    Fritsl

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  32. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    upload_2017-5-4_1-44-43.png

    They are not hacks. A hack is a sloppy, fast, inelegant solution to a bug or a problem that usually time prevents from fixing correctly. The editor isn't broken or bugged (well... in this context). You just feel that it could be better tailored to your needs. Not a bad thing, most if not all developers feel exactly the same, though the changes are going to wildly different. Editor extensions are the proper solutions to customizing workflow. (though a crappy extension one may be or contain kludge code, but that is a developer fail, and unrelated).

    It doesn't change the fact that are still trivial and simple (and in most cases, examples right in the docs) But that is why the asset store and wiki (and the forums exist). You want a custom solution or workflow, it is documented and there are examples. If you lack the skills to do it, there are a variety of free and paid solutions for you to choose from in most cases. If can't afford, or find or don't want to learn or follow tutorials, then default solution is to use what is there. Nothing is missing, just not optimized to your desires. The proper solution is find a way to customize it, not to try to convince the developers that things should be built the way you want, instead of the way that millions of others users want because you don't have the time/knowledge/resources to what you personally want. Its a bit unrealistic to expect that.
     
  33. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    ????

    In this case, I don't understand your point.

    There was a earlier post by unity employee. Some things are on roadmap. They may be eventually implemented. There are many other things on roadmap that may have higher priority. Some of the ideas were voiced before.

    If it is the case of "something should be better that it is..." well, uh, such is life? Software usually never reaches any "perfect" state and keeps improving forever. If you already posted suggestion and released your tools into the wild, you pretty much did your part. I mean... pretty much no matter what you do, the features you want won't happen right now.

    I also agree with zombiegorilla - editor extensions are not hacks. They're utilizing provided framework in expected way. The engine provides you foundation, and you build tools for your specific use case on top of it, then you can share them if yo ufeel like it. Basically, pretty much the way it is meant to be.

    I mean, there IS a good api for extending the engine and it works well. If it weren't here, things would've been quite horrible, but the API is available.
     
  34. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    Exactly! That is perfect example of the value of the asset store and editor extensibility. Since you wrote it, it clearly solves some sort of workflow issue for you. Others have bought it, so it is valuable to some developers. It isn't something I would use, and probably a lot of developers wouldn't use, it has pretty specific usage. But you were able to create and solve your own need. No need for it to be native, and on top that you make a few bucks. This clearly illustrates the system works well.
     
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  35. Fritsl

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    I think that is a battle of words. I mean non-native. There is a degree to how specialized a framework should be, and I think Unity could come closer to a common set of use cases - like not having to bake x-90 - I am a Blender fanboy myself and I like your Blender Theme, but Id like to see your FBX transform X rotation after import?
     
  36. Fritsl

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    I did not ever say that 'my tool' should be native. I tried to avoid mentioning my tool, but there was so much writing about how I can just write my own tool, so I wanted to show that I am aware.

    My own tool cannot change uGui's freaking huge postcard in the middle of a scene, and my own tool - even if it is really trying hard not to and is designed to be deleted - still takes up a folder and leaves you with a lot of scripts in your game..

    And my point is still that I am aware that hacks and tools can be written, but I think Unity NATIVE should fix the above mentioned points.. to say it short :)
     
  37. Fritsl

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    In that case I'm sorry for lack of ability to communicate my point, and please allow me a last attempt:

    A) I meant to say that I think Unity Native should have a look at some things, so they would not have to be things made in the Project folder by me or others

    B) No, I am not closely studying Unity's Roadmap, I gave my input, maybe I should not have, but I did.

    C) Multiple answers appeared to imply that I was not aware that I can write my own tools, so I felt I had to show that I do and did, and released.

    I could just write my own game engine or I could use Unreal some more or I could go to h.. Yes, that is also true.

    My point is still such as that I think it's pretty poor that the UI Camera Space is placed in the middle of the Scene, and that there's no native 'Recent Scenes' etc etc. :)

    Cheers.
     
  38. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    Why do you call it "Unity Native"? This sorta implies native code on C++ side of the engine, which is probably not what you have in mind.

    @zombiegorilla - I'll need to check if your settings eliminates temporary transform that is being created on import in animated models. Few times when I wanted root motion, that temporary transform gave me a lot of trouble.
     
  39. zombiegorilla

    zombiegorilla

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    No, there is no battle of words. Hack has a specific meaning, and it simply doesn't apply here. If you buy a car, and decide to replace the tire with something different, that isn't a hack either.

    The transform rotation in blender isn't custom, it is default. Blender is a 3d modeling tool, it creates 3d content that may be used in variety of applications and uses. Therefore the onus is on Blender to output the content in the proper way to be consumed by a particular application like Unity. Blender has tons of export options options, it is what it does. Being able to set it on import in Unity is completely redundant, it wouldn't improve flow or save any steps (in fact it would be adding steps), and it isn't within the scope of what unity does. There is simply no value in it, and would ultimately cause more problems.
     
  40. karl_jones

    karl_jones

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    I had to check but yes this does already exist.
    You can use the hierarchy to filter out what is shown. You could also write an editor script to do this if you wanted it to work in a particular way.
    E.G
    upload_2017-5-4_11-2-24.png
     
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  41. Fritsl

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    "You can use the hierarchy to filter out what is shown." - can you elaborate? (I mean, I am aware that one can Deactivate the entire Transform, and multiple transforms can be selected and then deactivated, where after one again would have to select all and Activate..' Is that what you mean, because that is not what I mean by a 'Solo' function:

    When Editing one, then "Solo this"

    Thanks.
     
  42. zombiegorilla

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    Early versions were "experimental", largely because the animation axis switch was a bit buggy. It has been rock solid for about a year now. Also you can screw it up if your objects are non-zero rotations, AND you change the axis(s) AND apply transform. Usually I make sure they are properly rotated, change the axis and DO NOT apply transform. That seems to work properly for me. For non animated stuff, I set the rotate on them to -90x on the stage and export with the defaults. Also... when ever I upgrade Blender, the first thing I test is the export... just in case it changed again. ;)
     
  43. neginfinity

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    On top of hierarchy field there's a text entry field. You can type stuff there to filter visible objects in scene. Those could be object names, or types. Judging by his screen he proposes to enter name of subemitter into the field.

    Hmm. Thanks for the info. I'll play with this later this week. I have a character I'll need to import, might as well make sure I do it right this time.
     
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  44. Fritsl

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    I'm not sure why you insist on battling that meaning of the word hack, are you interested in my good ideas, or winning a battle? English is not my first language, but I can read this, if you really want to tell me the meaning of the word:

    7. Computers.
    1. to modify (a computer program or electronic device) or write (a program) in a skillful or clever way: Developers have hacked the app.
      I hacked my tablet to do some very cool things.
    http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hack

    I am - as I wrote a Blender fanboy myself, I am not sure why you lecture me on Blender?
    I mean to say that after importing with -Z forward from Blender, and into Unity, then in Unity Transform Inspector, can you honestly tell me that you have a 000 rotation?

    Unity is already modifying btw; There's the whole 1:1000 scaling issue with Max for example!

    And then there's the other 3D apps out there, I am not sure if you either are not aware or fight some stupid battle - but it is commonly known to be an issue with what is forward, and Unity Could fix that on import, native, and since it's a common issue, I suggest it's done.

    Please stop writing me how 'things are' - we all have an opinion, and we can all learn, also you, thank you.
     
  45. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    The dictionary definition is not complete. To "hack" is to modify in unintended way. "Hack" in code is a quick, dirty and usually ugly and unelegant solution that may rely on undocumented behavior and will probably break at first opportunity or for no reason whatsoever. The word has negative connotations to it.

    If you're using API provided by the editor - this is not a hack.

    It becomes a hack when in order to make your application work properly, you rely on some internal process that happens behind the scenes, which is not even documented somewhere, but which you managed to guess. That's a hack.
     
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  46. Fritsl

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    OK, I think I'll just let you stand there with that statement, and I'll move on with my good intentions :)
     
  47. neginfinity

    neginfinity

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    shrug.jpg
     
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  48. passerbycmc

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    That should be the job of the 3d package, we work with content coming into Unity for Maya, Modo and 3ds Max and it all comes in with the proper up and forward axis because we export it all with the proper settings and have those settings enforced by our pipeline scripts.
     
  49. Fritsl

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    Hmm.. The more I look away from the haters of the folks apparently stay around in this forum, and the more I look around in the real world, I realize what's up and why things are not fixed as most users want it..

    Example:
    https://feedback.unity3d.com/suggestions/fbximporter-correct-orientation
    It's not like I'm alone in my points - it only appears like that if one reads the comments in here :p
    It pretty much goes for every point I made and got sliced for in this little forum.
     
  50. EternalAmbiguity

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    I'd imagine your tone (including that poll) was what got you sliced as much as your suggestions.

    It's not what you say, it's how you say it.
     
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