I’ve just started using Unity, so please forgive me if I’m missing something obvious (I’m also comparatively new to Mac OS and still more used to Windows)
I currently have some three little experimental projects, and every once in a while, I’d like to look up how I did something in one of the projects while I’m in another project. Usually, the way I do this (e.g. in Visual Studio) is to keep multiple instances with the different projects (or “solutions” in VS-speak) open.
I’ve noticed that this doesn’t seem to work with Unity.
Is it possible, to open multiple projects with Unity, or keep multiple instances of Unity open at the same time, and if so, how is it done?
It’s possible, but probably not advisable. One problem is that all instances of Unity would share the same preferences file, and who knows what else. If you want to risk messing things up, though, you can use the terminal to cd to the app (remembering that an “application” is actually a directory with the program’s name + “.app”, and the actual app lives in Contents/MacOS/ therein) and run it that way, repeating as many times as desired. If you try this and your Unity projects explode, I deny that I ever wrote this message.
Another way that doesn’t involve the terminal would be to make a duplicate of the app and rename it, and run the copy as normal. Still not sure if that’s a good idea.
You can run Unity 1.6.2 and 2.0 side-by-side with no ill effects, however.
thanks for the quick answer! I think going with the console is a nice idea and I’ll give that a try. Since I would be using this not to actually work on two projects, but work on one project and just have another project open for reference, this should be fine.
I guess it’s wise to be extra-careful in that “mode”, however - thanks for pointing that out!
I often need to reference the settings in one project / scene while working in another, and although my solution may not be the best, it’s safer than running two instances of Unity simultaneously on the same machine (IMO): I just open the reference project, and as I flip through the settings I take screenshots (command shift 3) and save them to the desktop. Then I open the screen shots with the Apple “Preview” application and use that to bounce back and forth between the screenshots of the reference project and my working project.
Since you’re new to OS X (as was I a year ago) you might want to check out “Virtue Desktops” if you’re still using OS X Tiger (10.4.x). It’s a free utility that gives you multiple desktops that you can flip through. Great app.
Hm… that’s also an interesting approach. Actually, one could even make very productive use of the cover-flow feature that way
I think that for settings, this is probably ideal… one could actually create a few “reference screenshots” for that and reuse them whenever needed (I’m really lazy when it comes to having to remember things). Since I’ve updated to Leopard already, I could use the virtual desktops from the OS. The only “problem” I have is that for a while, I was using my notebook with the new display I had bought for use with the Mac - and now I’m a “dual monitor addict”, but that’s another story…
I still have to figure out the ideal way of working with assets and reusing them between projects. When it comes to scripts (which is one thing why I was asking the question), I could obviously simply use Unitron with files from different folders and simply keep them all open (thinking about it, “THE FEATURE” is Unitron → Recent Files… hm… ).
I’m also considering using VS.NET on VMWare Fusion instance, and then I could handle all the scripting stuff simply in one big solution with all the projects (or two VS.NET instances). But for now, I feel it’s easier to go with JavaScript as almost all the reference material is JavaScript… Then again, I might follow Matthew’s route on this, who’s using FlashDevelop → http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=6277
