Basically, what is the difference between the panel object and the image object? They both have the same components, only different default settings, so is there a real purpose for panel AND image?
It’s a convenience object. It’s faster to choose Panel from the list, than adding an Image and changing its image type to sliced. Much of the GUI is made from a few primitives anyway, so most of the objects are like macros.
I use a panel to create an empty object that spans with anchors the entire parent RectTransform. I just remove the Image and Canvas components.
(a little faster then creating an empty child and spanning its anchors manually )
I don’t if this is correct. But I am able to Use masks only with Panels and not with Image.