This was a bit difficult to name but I’ll do my best to get my point across.
Let’s say I have an asset that interacts with the UI system. It requires a ‘Text’ object to do its thing. And if my project uses TMP for the UI, this becomes a bit of a problem, since TMP UGUI doesn’t derive from ‘UnityEngine.UI.Text’.
And I know you could try to say it’s not needed to address in a couple of ways. Like;
TMP is supposed to replace the old ‘Text’. But some assets might be really old and not updated, but still works.
Then you can edit the asset. But what if it’s in a compiled DLL and I don’t have access to the source?
But all upcoming UI stuff will be made with TMP in mind. But right now TMP is an optional package, and I don’t know how long it will stay like that, but if you make an asset with TMP in mind, the user will be forced to get TMP, which they maybe don’t want because of an already ongoing project with the original Text component or any other reason.
I hope I got all my points across.
Is this something that you’ve at least thought about and are there any plans do something about it?
Starting with Unity 2018.1, TextMesh Pro is available via the Package Manager. With Unity 2018.2, TextMesh Pro will be included by default with the editor and available from the top menu without requiring a user to install it separately.
The specific resources (TMP Essential Resources) will still need to be added to user projects but the tool will be available by default.
Since both UI.Text and TextMesh Pro will eventually be replaced by the new Text System (mostly based on TMP), investing the time to try to add some interface between UI.Text, TextMeshProUGUI, TextMeshPro and TextMesh isn’t ideal.
Making sure that we provide as smooth as possible migration to the new system is very important.
Since I continue to provide updates to TMP which even includes new functionality from time to time, using TMP until the new system is available is pretty safe
Lovely news! I actually didn’t know about this “new Text System” integration and I’m really looking forward to it! But thanks for the clarification. Gives me hope for a smooth future!
