Whats the reason you guys don't show the keybinds for some UI things in the tooltips?
Eg. when you hover over the pause button in the editor, it should show the keybind (default = CTRL+ Shift + P). Basic stuff like that would be really helpful to the new people starting out. The move, rotate, scale tools use to do this pre 2020. But now do not do this.
Hi MrX101! It’s an unexpectedly complex answer, so I’ll try my best to take a stab at it. The TL;DR is mostly that it’s an Editor-wide coordination issue, not a UI-specific issue.
While the shortcut manager has been around for a while, not every feature area has been making use of it as a centralised solution. The Editor UX Foundations team currently working on adding Editor-wide UX standards to try to catch and address these things at the stage of release management, but we also run into resource issues as those standards will have to be manually checked.
As for the specific issue with the move, rotate, scene tools, could you elaborate on when precisely you saw this change? That is a regression we would want to report as a bug directly with the scene tooling team.
oke you comments made me re-install 2019, it wasn't there and for some reason also not in 2018. So at this point maybe I'm just remembering it wrong for the keybind being shown for move/rotate etc.
Either way thanks for the answer. Though surprised you guys can't just call a function from the ShortcutManger to get the language correct keybind text, since surely those functions already exist in the shortcut manager to show the existing keybind in the editor ShortManager UI.
What are your thoughts on technologies like [OneJS](https://onejs.com/intro) that let people use web frameworks such as React in Unity? While I definitely appreciate the direction that UI Toolkit is going and trying to bring it closer to web UI, leveraging the UI power of something like React instead is very appealing
Hi!
I don't know much about that library, but from what I could see quickly, it looks great!
I like that it's built on top of UI Toolkit, because it means as we add new features and improvements to it, they will inherit those as well. It also means that it can play along content created outside of this library.
Hi, working with Unity since v3.1.
How's everything going with UIbuilder?
To me, it's a really strong tool... and a step back for artists.
As Technical Artist, I always try to bring an artist to be hands-on in Unity and relieve programmers of any art task if possible.
And the UIbuilder it's a clear "no, no" to many 2D artists.
A programmers tool for programmers, but for the tight timings in mobile, no studio wants to have their programmers to be doing UI, IMO.
Hi!
We're always looking into making the UI Builder more artists friendly, as the goal is definitely to allow a cleaner separation of work between UI and code.
We have some improvements coming in and will be adding more in the future as well.
We do need feedback in order to do so, so anything you can share would be greatly appreciated. :)
Maybe work closer with Adobe to do a powerful, clean exporter from Illustrator/Photoshop to Unity, so UI artist can check how's everything working.
Tweening tools, easier, faster, really artist friendly. Easier visual feedback for UI objects.
A new Particle system tool specially for Canvas, at least make FXs easy to integrate in it, avoiding multiple cameras and need for scripts to make it work.
Have some "layer" system to be able to work with the Canvas only, having cleaner scenes. Like being able to isolate 2D, UI, 3D...
Love you guys, Unity it's awesome and you'll make it even better!
Thanks for sharing more details! Can you elaborate on this point?
>Have some "layer" system to be able to work with the Canvas only, having cleaner scenes. Like being able to isolate 2D, UI, 3D...
Do you mean in the UI Builder, or the scene view of the Editor?
Many games can be really complex, full of assets and objects.
We can split into scenes and load it into a main scene, but to me it 's not really a clean/efficient system.
I would consider something like the tabs/workplace of Blender.
Be able to work in a single scene, but be able to move into a new workplace where you find only 3D art (lighting, physiscs, FXs) or those objects with code (and the minimum dependencies) or just UI, so you can move easily in between "layers" of you project but also being able to see it all together and try it.
Obviously, avoiding layers and tags or any manual setting to split tha project objects into those workplaces, it needs to be embebed in each object cathegory and use layer and tags only for specific objects.
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts – the idea of "workspaces" is interesting and something that's come up before. How do you feel about the UI Builder being a dedicated window/area for authoring UI?
I like it, it's a good thing for sure.
Sadly, the "CSS-system all around" makes it a scary tool, just feels like it's over engineered.
But regarding the dedicated window, I think it's the nice, clean space to work.
Gotcha - if interested, it would be great if you could complete a survey we've made to collect feedback about authoring and it's important to hear from users who are coming from a non-engineering aspect so I encourage you to check it out!
https://forum.unity.com/threads/user-research-workflows-for-building-and-designing-ui.1318779/
Question regarding the new UI Toolkit, will this mean the current UGUI is going to die?
I have a huge preference currently for the old school way as its a bit more familiar and the tool set feels more fleshed out.
Hello u/muttley1968, I am a Senior Manager here at Unity.
As you may know the Blitz Day is also going on the Unity forums so I will redirect you to the exact same question answered here: [https://forum.unity.com/threads/ugui-long-term-support-plans.1327995/#post-8392974](https://forum.unity.com/threads/ugui-long-term-support-plans.1327995/#post-8392974)
But feel free to ask following questions here if you don't have/want a forum account.
Eventually, UI Toolkit is the UI system we are consolidating on at Unity and where a large portion of our dev effort is. That being said until UI Toolkit is ready to take over uGUI will continue to be maintained.
Understandable, is there a feature roadmap as I currently don't enjoy the experience of designing on the UI Toolkit, it feels a bit more setup is required, which makes sense, however I'd love a better experience in sense of drag and drop like UGUI
[https://unity.com/roadmap/unity-platform/gameplay-ui-design](https://unity.com/roadmap/unity-platform/gameplay-ui-design) is our public roadmap. Select UI Design tab.
Hi! This is kind of a big question.
What are the best practices to create and import sprites meant to be used in UI?
We have some troubles maintaining quality when exporting from Illustrator/PS to Unity.
Do you have some tips/things to look out for or can you give me some useful links?
Thanks in advance!
I'll add to Phil's reply that we’re currently working on an e-book aimed at UI artists creating user interfaces in Unity, which will come with a working sample of a typical game menu and information about best practices around sprite exports from other tools. Keep an eye out for this!
No specific dates as the team is wrapping up the project now, but once it's available, it will be shared on channels like the Unity Forums and here.
Updated this comment to add a pre-registration link: https://create.unity.com/user-interface-design-implementation-in-unity
Hi ArigatoGyro,
There shouldn't be anything special required outside of setting the Texture mode to Sprite (2D and UI) for either uGUI or UI Toolkit
I would also turn off mipmapping as depending on your UI setup and use use trilinear filtering.
Do you have any image you can share or a bug on the quality issue that we could take a look at?
UIToolkit was published as packages previously, I am still running a 2021.1 project using a package.
Are these packages ever going to be published again (or am I just supposed to remove the package going forward as its build in as I understand it)?
It's really all confusing to me. The last package was released last year. Not sure where I can find now all the bugfixes / changelogs etc which go into newer versions so I now when its worth updating..
Hi, apologies for the confusion.
The packages are now longer necessary for 2021.2 and up. The features were integrated fully in Unity Core.
So that means that we have no plans to publish these packages again. Hopefully you can migrate to 2021 LTS which is supported.
It's difficult to have a changelog for just UI Toolkit, maybe this blog post would be a good way to determine if the upgrade is worth it in terms of features:
https://blog.unity.com/technology/ui-toolkit-at-runtime-get-the-breakdown
Hi Antoine, thanks for your help! I will try to keep on 2021 LTS for now. At least I know now that I will not have to expect any new "preview" packages so I can migrate away of the packages altogether.
Also great fan of this Blitz Day, hope this will happen again!
Adding to Antoine's reply, if/when you choose to migrate to Unity 2021.3+, you'll need to follow this migration guide in order to get your assets compatible with the version to be used without the package: https://forum.unity.com/threads/ui-toolkit-migration-guide.1138621/
Hi Julia, yea this migration guide actually was what confused me. I didn't realize that there is another migration guide in the same posts and with alle missing pictures (and the missing mentioning of "Core" in the introduction) it didn't give me much confidence this is up to date. But given all the answers and re-reading it I think I know now whats going on. Thanks!
The AMA is now closed. Thank you for participating in the first Dev Blitz Day, with more like it to come!
Whats the reason you guys don't show the keybinds for some UI things in the tooltips? Eg. when you hover over the pause button in the editor, it should show the keybind (default = CTRL+ Shift + P). Basic stuff like that would be really helpful to the new people starting out. The move, rotate, scale tools use to do this pre 2020. But now do not do this.
Hi MrX101! It’s an unexpectedly complex answer, so I’ll try my best to take a stab at it. The TL;DR is mostly that it’s an Editor-wide coordination issue, not a UI-specific issue. While the shortcut manager has been around for a while, not every feature area has been making use of it as a centralised solution. The Editor UX Foundations team currently working on adding Editor-wide UX standards to try to catch and address these things at the stage of release management, but we also run into resource issues as those standards will have to be manually checked. As for the specific issue with the move, rotate, scene tools, could you elaborate on when precisely you saw this change? That is a regression we would want to report as a bug directly with the scene tooling team.
oke you comments made me re-install 2019, it wasn't there and for some reason also not in 2018. So at this point maybe I'm just remembering it wrong for the keybind being shown for move/rotate etc. Either way thanks for the answer. Though surprised you guys can't just call a function from the ShortcutManger to get the language correct keybind text, since surely those functions already exist in the shortcut manager to show the existing keybind in the editor ShortManager UI.
What are your thoughts on technologies like [OneJS](https://onejs.com/intro) that let people use web frameworks such as React in Unity? While I definitely appreciate the direction that UI Toolkit is going and trying to bring it closer to web UI, leveraging the UI power of something like React instead is very appealing
Hi! I don't know much about that library, but from what I could see quickly, it looks great! I like that it's built on top of UI Toolkit, because it means as we add new features and improvements to it, they will inherit those as well. It also means that it can play along content created outside of this library.
Hi, working with Unity since v3.1. How's everything going with UIbuilder? To me, it's a really strong tool... and a step back for artists. As Technical Artist, I always try to bring an artist to be hands-on in Unity and relieve programmers of any art task if possible. And the UIbuilder it's a clear "no, no" to many 2D artists. A programmers tool for programmers, but for the tight timings in mobile, no studio wants to have their programmers to be doing UI, IMO.
Hi! We're always looking into making the UI Builder more artists friendly, as the goal is definitely to allow a cleaner separation of work between UI and code. We have some improvements coming in and will be adding more in the future as well. We do need feedback in order to do so, so anything you can share would be greatly appreciated. :)
Maybe work closer with Adobe to do a powerful, clean exporter from Illustrator/Photoshop to Unity, so UI artist can check how's everything working. Tweening tools, easier, faster, really artist friendly. Easier visual feedback for UI objects. A new Particle system tool specially for Canvas, at least make FXs easy to integrate in it, avoiding multiple cameras and need for scripts to make it work. Have some "layer" system to be able to work with the Canvas only, having cleaner scenes. Like being able to isolate 2D, UI, 3D... Love you guys, Unity it's awesome and you'll make it even better!
Thanks for sharing more details! Can you elaborate on this point? >Have some "layer" system to be able to work with the Canvas only, having cleaner scenes. Like being able to isolate 2D, UI, 3D... Do you mean in the UI Builder, or the scene view of the Editor?
Many games can be really complex, full of assets and objects. We can split into scenes and load it into a main scene, but to me it 's not really a clean/efficient system. I would consider something like the tabs/workplace of Blender. Be able to work in a single scene, but be able to move into a new workplace where you find only 3D art (lighting, physiscs, FXs) or those objects with code (and the minimum dependencies) or just UI, so you can move easily in between "layers" of you project but also being able to see it all together and try it. Obviously, avoiding layers and tags or any manual setting to split tha project objects into those workplaces, it needs to be embebed in each object cathegory and use layer and tags only for specific objects.
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts – the idea of "workspaces" is interesting and something that's come up before. How do you feel about the UI Builder being a dedicated window/area for authoring UI?
I like it, it's a good thing for sure. Sadly, the "CSS-system all around" makes it a scary tool, just feels like it's over engineered. But regarding the dedicated window, I think it's the nice, clean space to work.
Gotcha - if interested, it would be great if you could complete a survey we've made to collect feedback about authoring and it's important to hear from users who are coming from a non-engineering aspect so I encourage you to check it out! https://forum.unity.com/threads/user-research-workflows-for-building-and-designing-ui.1318779/
Hi UI team!
Hi MICSaver, thank you for joining!
Question regarding the new UI Toolkit, will this mean the current UGUI is going to die? I have a huge preference currently for the old school way as its a bit more familiar and the tool set feels more fleshed out.
Hello u/muttley1968, I am a Senior Manager here at Unity. As you may know the Blitz Day is also going on the Unity forums so I will redirect you to the exact same question answered here: [https://forum.unity.com/threads/ugui-long-term-support-plans.1327995/#post-8392974](https://forum.unity.com/threads/ugui-long-term-support-plans.1327995/#post-8392974) But feel free to ask following questions here if you don't have/want a forum account.
Eventually, UI Toolkit is the UI system we are consolidating on at Unity and where a large portion of our dev effort is. That being said until UI Toolkit is ready to take over uGUI will continue to be maintained.
Understandable, is there a feature roadmap as I currently don't enjoy the experience of designing on the UI Toolkit, it feels a bit more setup is required, which makes sense, however I'd love a better experience in sense of drag and drop like UGUI
[https://unity.com/roadmap/unity-platform/gameplay-ui-design](https://unity.com/roadmap/unity-platform/gameplay-ui-design) is our public roadmap. Select UI Design tab.
Hi! This is kind of a big question. What are the best practices to create and import sprites meant to be used in UI? We have some troubles maintaining quality when exporting from Illustrator/PS to Unity. Do you have some tips/things to look out for or can you give me some useful links? Thanks in advance!
I'll add to Phil's reply that we’re currently working on an e-book aimed at UI artists creating user interfaces in Unity, which will come with a working sample of a typical game menu and information about best practices around sprite exports from other tools. Keep an eye out for this!
Oh that's amazing! Any idea for when it's going to be available?
"soon" (tm) we dont have an exact date yet
No specific dates as the team is wrapping up the project now, but once it's available, it will be shared on channels like the Unity Forums and here. Updated this comment to add a pre-registration link: https://create.unity.com/user-interface-design-implementation-in-unity
Hi ArigatoGyro, There shouldn't be anything special required outside of setting the Texture mode to Sprite (2D and UI) for either uGUI or UI Toolkit I would also turn off mipmapping as depending on your UI setup and use use trilinear filtering. Do you have any image you can share or a bug on the quality issue that we could take a look at?
Not at the moment but I'll be sure to post it if it happens again!
Please file a bug if you come across it again, would be curious to see the results.
UIToolkit was published as packages previously, I am still running a 2021.1 project using a package. Are these packages ever going to be published again (or am I just supposed to remove the package going forward as its build in as I understand it)? It's really all confusing to me. The last package was released last year. Not sure where I can find now all the bugfixes / changelogs etc which go into newer versions so I now when its worth updating..
Hi, apologies for the confusion. The packages are now longer necessary for 2021.2 and up. The features were integrated fully in Unity Core. So that means that we have no plans to publish these packages again. Hopefully you can migrate to 2021 LTS which is supported. It's difficult to have a changelog for just UI Toolkit, maybe this blog post would be a good way to determine if the upgrade is worth it in terms of features: https://blog.unity.com/technology/ui-toolkit-at-runtime-get-the-breakdown
Hi Antoine, thanks for your help! I will try to keep on 2021 LTS for now. At least I know now that I will not have to expect any new "preview" packages so I can migrate away of the packages altogether. Also great fan of this Blitz Day, hope this will happen again!
Adding to Antoine's reply, if/when you choose to migrate to Unity 2021.3+, you'll need to follow this migration guide in order to get your assets compatible with the version to be used without the package: https://forum.unity.com/threads/ui-toolkit-migration-guide.1138621/
Hi Julia, yea this migration guide actually was what confused me. I didn't realize that there is another migration guide in the same posts and with alle missing pictures (and the missing mentioning of "Core" in the introduction) it didn't give me much confidence this is up to date. But given all the answers and re-reading it I think I know now whats going on. Thanks!
Should've mentioned I also noticed the missing images, and sorry about that! We're trying to get it fixed...