For work I’m using the new UI systems to create a pause screen. One of the requirements is we want to display the items in the menu. To save on time we want to just use the model to show the item instead of making an image for the item box. Is it possible to just render the model over the UI or is there a way to attach the model to the UI?
EDIT: For reference I need the model to be displayed over this box seen in this image:Imgur: The magic of the Internet
Yes, the only requirement to do this is that the UI needs to be Screen Space - Camera not Screen Space - Overlay. Then you can create GameObjects with the model add a RectTransform and position them inside the hierarchy of your UI.
They won’t automatically resize like a real Rect would, so you may have some scaling issues to work out with different screen sizes.
It won’t work with ScreenSpace - Overlay because it is drawn over the top and doesn’t participate in the culling steps.
I’d recommend using a Render Texture, which is then displayed on the UI.
Here’s how;
Create a new camera, and move it far out of the way of everything else, pointing away from you map. Now change its projection from Perspective to Orthographic and set it’s clear flags to Solid Colour.
Place your models as you want them in front of the camera.
Create a Render Texture in the Assets hierarchy.
Set the option Target Texture in the camera to point to this new texture.
(optional: Set the texture resolution to something very high)
Create > UI > Raw Image.
Set the image texture to your render texture.
Move it into place on your UI.
Success!
The only draw to this method, that I can think of, is that it makes you unable to display the models properly on a 3D/VR/AR display, as you’re rendering everything as a flat image.
Well you could use a second camera and position the window where you want it on the screen.
But if its static its simpler to create a texture. In Unity Pro you can use
In either pro or community you can use