Selection and evaluation of Unity GUI

Since the built-in GUI of Unity is not powerful in both development efficiency and operation efficiency, many GUI plug-ins are derived. It is worth considering what plug-ins should be selected.

Since it is an evaluation, there will be a lot of subjective consciousness, which is not necessarily the basis for choice. For example, I am used to using NGUI plug-ins, so no matter what you say about NGUI, it cannot be recognized by me. Therefore, this article serves as a reference for beginners or those who have never touched Unity.

1. the built-in GUI of Unity, or encapsulate it to develop a GUI framework.

These two choices are both unwise. The built-in GUI of Unity is very inefficient. Every rendering is a DrawCall, which is very difficult to use and cannot achieve what you see is what you get, so it does not have much practical value. Relying on this system, it will not change anything. This is definitely a waste of time. The only existing value of the built-in GUI of Unity is the editor extension or the addition of a Button by writing a test code. But then again, if the editor extension can also see what you get to edit the GUI, isn't it more convenient? This is definitely a correct development idea.

2. New GUI system after Unity4.6

Today, I tried a new GUI system. It seems like it is not very bad, but it is not very bright. In addition, the degree of completion is not very high. We hope that version 4.6 can be improved after the release.

It is said that this new GUI system was developed by NGUI authors. It seems that the core idea is similar to NGUI, and the process of merging DrawCall and WYSIWYG editing by model rendering is correct. The details are implemented in a Unity style. The overall feeling is very clean and convenient to use.

However, as mentioned above, the controls are incomplete and the degree of completion is not high. Many things must be implemented by themselves, such as rich text and input boxes.

In addition, I haven't checked its event system. I don't know if it is convenient or whether it supports unlimited ScrollView.

3. NGUI

The Old GUI plug-in is priced at $95. As a mmo gui plug-in, it is more than enough. The power of Unity is fully embodied here. It is clearly just a GUI plug-in, but the development efficiency and actual effect are not inferior to those old GUI frameworks that are expensive or open-source for N years.

There are three advantages of NGUI:

1. Complete. All the controls or functions required for developing an MMO are available.

2. Efficiency. Its DrawCall control is very good. Only one DrawCall is required for rendering multiple controls.

3. 3D GUI support. Through this, You can implement a UI with a skewed or perspective effect.

The disadvantages are simply described as follows: too many bugs and frequent updates lead to chaotic functions and difficulties:

The author suffers from Update syndrome and updates a version in three days. There was no major problem, but these updates are not only Bug fixes, but also many interface or operation method modifications. NGUI does not have well-developed documentation, so you can only refer to examples to figure out how to implement it. Many online tutorials are intended for earlier versions. If you read these tutorials, they will be misled. Many of the functions of the plug-in are discarded. Sometimes you really don't know how to create a Button, whether to use the wizard interface, drag a Prefab, or a menu option.

One reason for frequent updates is that there are too many bugs. I don't know if the burden of the author's history is too heavy to Hold. Many times the new features are correct and reasonable, but there are always a lot of bugs. For example, the new anchor system is relatively powerful, but the resolution when it is adapted to multiple resolutions will modify the control coordinates during editing, Which is fatal.

4. Daikon Forge GUI

This is a new GUI plug-in launched in March September, but it is very complete and excellent. It is also the GUI plug-in I am using. It mainly compares with NGUI.

1. Although it is quite new, it is very complete, and various spaces are available, and even Html-based rich text display is directly embedded. This NGUI also needs to be supported by another plug-in. All kinds of Image Display (for example, jiugongge splitting) are supported, input boxes and ScrollView are also supported, and there are many Demo examples, such as GUI applications in 3D scenarios and CoverFlow effects.

2. DrawCall merging is much weaker than NGUI. You must specify a Default Atlas for UIRoot before merging DrawCall for the Child control. Otherwise, there is one more DrawCall for the control. Normally, an MMO game has a lot of UI elements, and it is impossible to include all the elements in an atlas. Therefore, this function is very challenging and requires urgent optimization.

3. Some details need to be optimized, such as the Chinese line feed of the Label control and the support for translucent text shadow.

4. Compared with NGUI, df gui is clean and tidy, which is convenient to use. For example, it is user-friendly to add the right-click menu to create controls and bind events. To bind an event, you only need to add a public function, and then you can select it from the drop-down list. Or directly add an OnClick function to the script bound to the control, and then you can respond to the click event. These are very small details, but they make development more efficient and convenient. A framework that allows users to use conveniently is the greatest value in itself.

5. In NGUI, DF guis, two relatively crude parts, are very beautiful.

One is hierarchical occlusion between interfaces, that is, Depth management. NGUI can be managed through z-order and Depth in the early stage, which makes it extremely difficult to have a multi-management relationship on the interface, later NGUI was improved in version 3.0, but it still seems less intelligent than df gui. In NGUI, You need to assign a Depth value and edit and modify the errors at the same level. After Depth is specified in df gui, the Depth of other panels is automatically corrected, as the author of the df gui said, you don't need to know how it is guaranteed to be correct, but it is correct. When using df gui, you do not need to worry about its internal implementation, because it is correct naturally.

The second is the anchor processing. The anchor is very important for Multi-Resolution adaptation. NGUI's new anchor system is more powerful. It can specify the object alignment of the control. However, it is very difficult for this system to be perfected, in addition, the practical value has not been imagined. In contrast, the anchor system of the df gui is very beautiful. It can specify the control or Panel based on the alignment or stretching mode of the parent window. This allows for convenient multi-resolution adaptation.

5. ez gui or 2dTookit built-in GUI

These can represent a lot of GUI plug-ins, these plug-ins are not very complete, but the sparrow is small. For example, there are various controls in the GUI of 2d tookit, and there are more than enough games to be used. However, because it does not have some complex functions, such as the anchor or Rich Text controls, it is still difficult to use MMO.

These GUI plug-ins can also become one of the choices if they are used for small games or are very fond of and familiar with them.

To sum up, if you are familiar with NGUI, you can use NGUI. Otherwise, Daikon Forge GUI is the best choice. 4.6 The New GUI system provided requires time to complete.