non-game application

News & General Discussion
1

Hi all,

I just found out about Unity and was wondering if this engine can be used for non-game applications?

The project I’m entertaining is to create a modeler, and would like to have it run inside a GUI. Think of it as your typical Maya/3DSMax/C4D/etc… modeling application interface.

Can this be done with Unity?

thanks

2

Mmm… i… thiiiink it CAN be done with Unity… but i will be very very difficult compared to create a game, since there is a lot of tools optimized for the common tasks that you can found on a game world but not on a game editor. Unity is actually the game world editor but not a modeler.

Now… if you limit A LOT the editor… may be worth the while.

If you ask me, i will no go through the process of create a modeler… with Unity, unless the design if very limited to meet the tools Unity provides.

.ORG

PD: By the way, i am currently on a non game application development :smile: (but not a modeler).

3

I would say creating a modeler with Unity would be very difficult. It lacks almost any type of GUI support. I here that they plan on adding a GUI interface for 2.0, so I guess we wait.

4

Quite a few people use Unity for non-game stuff, but I don’t think that trying to make a modeler with it is really the best idea. It’s possible, but it wouldn’t be easy and I’m not sure what advantage you’d get over the many modelers that are already available.

–Eric

5

a simplified modeler i could see, which i guess would be more like a game or sandbox than a tool - but something anywhere near the complexity of the programs you mentioned - i’d think you’d need the engine code and/or a huge set of plugins (at which point you could possibly just code your own program).

6

Thanks for the replies.

The project I have in mind (and it’s just an idea) is not to compete/replace the existing editor/modeler that comes with Unity, nor am I even attempting to take on the 3D apps I mentioned above (far from it actually). I only mentioned them as a “visual” reference since pretty much everyone has some familiarity with at least one of those.

As for the upcoming GUI support, are we talking about in-game style controls, or the ability to attach the render window to a (for example) Windows Form? …the latter is what I’d need ideally.

thanks

7

I’m pretty sure it will be in game. If you need to attach to a native windowing toolkit, check out something like OpenSceneGraph or OGRE. Both have a way to hook up to a rendering window and are pretty solid graphics engines.

8

Thanks lgoss007

Yeah I know about OpenSceneGraph and Ogre. I actually have some bits already done with Ogre, and there are no reasons why I shouldn’t stick with this engine, but I’m still at an early stage in development/experimentation so I continue to look at alternatives to see what’s out there.

Unity caught my attention because it has some goodies in there that I could use without having to make them myself. Also, C# has started to grow on me, and combined with Mono, it made things even more interesting. I know about Axiom (C# port of Ogre), but I’m not a huge fan of ports in general…my reasons are not necessarily valid :slight_smile:

9

I know how that goes. I’m always looking at new stuff, but Unity just makes a lot of the tedious stuff much easier.

Yeah, lots of goodies.

Same for me. C# is pretty nice to work with. And I feel the same way about ports (especially to slower platforms) :shock:

10

Anticipating integrated GUI editor for 3.5.

11

You certainly can create pretty much anything you like in Unity. I mean, when it really boils down to it, if you can draw the pixels on the screen that you want then you can make anything appear, be it a game or an application.

Now, I don’t think you can currently do anything with the operating system’s built in GUI (unless someone knows of some dll’s or something), because Unity’s whole graphics system runs inside an OpenGL or DirectX display context, which has to be launched either as full-screen or as a single window, but even as a window all you really get is a blank canvas (which could be a good thing).

So as long as you don’t mind making your own GUI, and/or using Unity’s built-in realtime updated-every-frame GUI system, which again could have its plusses compare to clunky o/s interfaces, then you’re all set.

You will of course be a bit limited to most of your app’s functionality working only within the confines of your Unity app and window/screen, so don’t expect to be able to do things like drag-and-drop from the desktop or load up standard menus or whatever without either some API calls to the o/s or using some third party libraries or not at all.

I say all this cus I’m working on something which constitutes an application as well and although there are some downsides to application development within the confines of Unity, there are also some significant advantages that aren’t possible using the operating system’s GUI system.

One downside is not being able to use a skin for the GUI that looks exactly like the native operating system’s GUI system, but maybe you or someone can come up with one, if that’s what you prefer. Personally I’m just making my own system.

12

I used unity for a sound effects panel application for podcasting, so that counts.