Run Unity App Minimized on Windows

Questions & Answers
1

I would like to run a Unity app minimized on Windows (i.e. no UI or canvas displayed) and then have the app render frames and send pixel data to another app for compositing. It seems that Unity will not render (i.e. Update() is not called) if the app UI is not displayed.

Is there any way to force Unity to render even though it is minimized on Windows? Also, can a Unity app run as a service on Windows?

2

Unity provides less flexibility than general .Net applications. However you can allow Unity to work in the background: in Edit->Project Settings->Player->Resolution and presentation you can tick an option called ‘Run in Background’.

I think you can render explicitly calling Camera.Render method even when it’s in background.

3

it’s not exactly what you’re asking for, but it should do exactly what you want.: