i am new to Unity and would like to ask for some advice. I hope I didn’t post in the wrong place or made some other mistake by posting here. If so, my apologies.
I am very interested in making an augmented reality application by using the String software from http://poweredbystring.com/
Their tutorial advises to use Unity to install the String SDK.
We followed the trial step by step (registered as iOS developer, installed Xcode and iOS SDK, installed Unity (free version) and followed the rest of the steps).
When we get to the point of Running the project (Unity > File > Build Settings) it seems we can not “select iOS and press Switch Platform”. Unity takes us to their store and asks us to buy an iOS addon (€280). Is this correct or did we make a mistake?
Also, but maybe this is caused by the above, when we try to build the project for Web Application (or for Mac standalone) we get the error message that plugins are only supported in Unity Pro (€1050). A part of the tutorial implied copying files to the plugin folder so we are a bit afraid that if we buy the iOS add-on, the next step will be to buy Unity Pro.
Or should we go for a completely different approach?
Does anyone have some experience with this and could give some (small) advice on how best to proceed?
If you can not help us directly, could you point out a place or forum where we could get help? We would really like to work with Unity and String but we don’t know how to continue.
However, since you are clearly conducting a “trial” of sorts, you can activate a free 30-day trial of Unity Pro (which includes iOS) and use that. Also, it looks like the String stuff is a native plugin, which does require Pro.
Sooo… after the 30 day period, you will have to make an investment of $1500 + $400 to be able to publish anything to iOS.
@andorov: thanks for the advice! i activated the pro trial and was able to finish the tutorial, i saw myself in a very first AR application Still a bit worried about the investment though. I will try to find out if String needs Unity Pro or if the iOS add-on is enough…
@KITT: thanks for the advice! i created a Qualcomm account and added Qualcomm AR via the Unity Assets environment. I didn’t got it working yet but I will keep on trying for sure. Would you recommend Qualcomm AR like I installed it in Unity (via Assets)? Does this require Unity Pro? Or is there a better way? Could you maybe recommend a starting project or tutorial for Qualcomm?
-Yeah, install it via the Assetstore, not sure if the Beta 1.5 is on there though. Download the manual from Qualcomm and go through it - it’s a pretty simple setup.
-Qualcomm does not require Unity Pro. Also Unity iPhone 3.0 unlike Unity iPhone 1.7 can implement plugins.
Use the 30 day Unity iPhone trial, plenty of time to test out either String AR or Qualcomm AR.
Still a bit worried about the investment though. I will try to find out if String needs Unity Pro or if the iOS add-on is enough…