UI Roadmap - Q3 2020

[benoitd_unity]

Hi everyone,

Here’s an update on our UI roadmap for the 2021 release cycle, which we’ve been revising based on your input. So thank you for that, we all appreciate the feedback you’ve been providing.

Our goal is to improve how developers and artists collaborate together when making game UI. We want to:

• Enable UI artists to iterate directly in Unity, with less dependency on programmers
• Allow UI developers to build and maintain a reusable library of custom UI components
• Provide a solution for building high quality UI that performs well on all platforms

Preview Release
UI Toolkit 1.0 is almost feature complete and is about to enter the pre-release phase, during which we’ll work on improving stability, performance and workflows. It’s currently available for you to try, do refer to this forum thread to know how to get started.

What about 3D UI?
Before tackling world space UI, we want to make sure UI Toolkit is a great solution for making screen overlay UI, that is well integrated with the other Unity features. This means good workflows for authoring, animating and improving the performance of UI in your project.

For the time being, if you need 3D UI for your project, our recommendation is to use UGUI, which we’re making sure will work well alongside UI Toolkit.

What about Unity UI (UGUI)?
We’re still committed at maintaining that technology as long as necessary for users to transition to UI Toolkit.

What about DOTS?
You can use UI Toolkit if you’re using DOTS but targeting the Unity Player. For the DOTS Runtime support, this is still in development and we don’t have an ETA to share yet.

We want to hear from you!
Meanwhile, please keep providing feedback on either the roadmap, or UI Toolkit itself if you had to chance to try it. We’re also very curious to see what you’re building with it so feel free to share with us .

Stay safe everyone.

[cultureulterior]

>What about DOTS?

You can use UI Toolkit if you’re using DOTS but targeting the Unity Player.

Can I use IComponentData with UI Toolkit without going through GameObjects?

[MousePods]

Hi,

Thanks for the update! I am just curious about a few items that aren’t on the roadmap.

1. Particles that are attached to game objects (see #2) and also particles sorted in the UI. So attaching a particle system to a specific position on a UI Image that can move with that image if that image is animated and also be maskable in a scrollview.

2. Using 2D/3D GameObjects inside the UI that is maskable. (So you can show stuff like 3D models or 2D sprites in a store to purchase and use in-game)

Thanks!

[Baste]

Could you go into detail about the planned difference between “asset based authoring” and “component-based authoring”?

[benoitd_unity]

@MousePods

Hi,

Thanks for the update! I am just curious about a few items that aren’t on the roadmap.

1. Particles that are attached to game objects (see #2) and also particles sorted in the UI. So attaching a particle system to a specific position on a UI Image that can move with that image if that image is animated and also be maskable in a scrollview.

2. Using 2D/3D GameObjects inside the UI that is maskable. (So you can show stuff like 3D models or 2D sprites in a store to purchase and use in-game)

Thanks!

Hi MousePods,

Yes very good points. 2D/3D layering will be investigated alongside 3D UI, so not before 2022.

[benoitd_unity]

@Baste

Could you go into detail about the planned difference between “asset based authoring” and “component-based authoring”?

Hi Baste,

It’s basically highlighting the two different methods of interacting with UI Documents for runtime purposes:

• The UIDocument Component, which you attach on a GameObject and typically reference a UI Document (UXML) asset. This is where you set it up and could either extend or attach a MonoBehaviour companion to react to life cycle events. Very similar to the Canvas.
• UI Toolkit also provides an asset, the PanelSettings, for tweaking global rendering and style settings for a set of UIDocuments. They also provide under the hood optimization for those groups of UIDocuments.

[jGate99]

Hi @benoitd_unity
Thanks for the updated roadmap.
So new manual and samples are expected in mid of 2021? right

[b4gn0]

@benoitd_unity there is no mention of Particle System or (better) Visual Effect Graph to be integrated with UI Toolkit.
Is it far in the future?

At the moment we are sequencing visual effect graphs in empty scene to generate sprite aliases and offset then at runtime. Is this the only way to have additional effects on top of UI Toolkit?

Thank you

[benoitd_unity]

@cultureulterior

>What about DOTS?

You can use UI Toolkit if you’re using DOTS but targeting the Unity Player.

Can I use IComponentData with UI Toolkit without going through GameObjects?

No not for the moment. The recommendation is still to use UIDocument and reference this hybrid Component from your DOTS Systems.

I suggest you start a dedicated forum thread about this so we can get a conversation going.

[benoitd_unity]

@jGate99

Hi @benoitd_unity
Thanks for the updated roadmap.
So new manual and samples are expected in mid of 2021? right

They will be available when Unity 2021.1 releases, which should be around March timeframe.

[Hertzole]

Will UI Toolkit still be semi-frequently updated with new preview fixes/features until 2021.1? I personally don’t want another release of UI Toolkit and then wait for multiple months for the next version.

[Onigiri]

So text effects and workflows are delayed? I thought some of these will land in september or october but now i’m not sure.

[benoitd_unity]

@Hertzole

Will UI Toolkit still be semi-frequently updated with new preview fixes/features until 2021.1? I personally don’t want another release of UI Toolkit and then wait for multiple months for the next version.

Hi! Yes we totally understand. Here’s the plan:

We will still release UI Toolkit 1.0-preview monthly updates via the package until the Unity 2021.1 beta is available, at which point the 1.0 package version will be frozen and integrated in core Unity. That means no new features will be releasing but we’ll keep making fixes and improvements throughout the regular beta cycle.

But, by 2021.1 beta, we’ll also release a new version of the package, UI Toolkit 1.1-experimental, which will contain the new features we’re working on for the next Unity release. You can expect the same monthly release cadence.

Would that work?

[benoitd_unity]

@Onigiri

So text effects and workflows are delayed? I thought some of these will land in september or october but now i’m not sure.

Yes that slipped a bit, we’re hoping to make that available soon.

[Hertzole]

@benoitd_unity

Hi! Yes we totally understand. Here’s the plan:

We will still release UI Toolkit 1.0-preview monthly updates via the package until the Unity 2021.1 beta is available, at which point the 1.0 package version will be frozen and integrated in core Unity. That means no new features will be releasing but we’ll keep making fixes and improvements throughout the regular beta cycle.

But, by 2021.1 beta, we’ll also release a new version of the package, UI Toolkit 1.1-experimental, which will contain the new features we’re working on for the next Unity release. You can expect the same monthly release cadence.

Would that work?

So if I understood correctly, you’ll freeze the 1.0 development when 2021.1 beta comes out but then release 1.1 preview for 2021.1? So development never really freezes and we get continuous releases? If that’s the case, that sounds great! If not, well it’s not too much of a bother. I’m just happy to be able to use UI toolkit for runtime now and I look forward to every little patch release! Just wish I could use it for 2020.2b3+ as that is what I’m currently using

[distastee]

Thanks for sharing this! Love love love what y’all are building.

The lack of mobile support has been crushing (i.e. total blocker). I appreciate that being a high priority. Any chance that iOS support lands earlier than full-fledged mobile?

[dannyalgorithmic]

1.0 && integrated into core == preview? Why must ya’ll be this way? XD

[benoitd_unity]

@Hertzole

you’ll freeze the 1.0 development when 2021.1 beta comes out but then release 1.1 preview for 2021.1? So development never really freezes and we get continuous releases?

Yes our goal is keep releasing preview versions of the package so you can get early access and provide feedback. Not entirely sure when 1.1-preview will be available but it might be earlier than that.

@dannyalgorithmic

1.0 && integrated into core == preview? Why must ya’ll be this way? XD

Not exactly. Once it gets in core, it’s no longer in preview. From that point on, the team is stabilizing and polishing the feature until Unity gets released.

[Araj]

Are you planning on moving the current 2020.2 ReorderableList from IMGUI to UI Toolkit? Can we mix this reorderable list with custom inspectors made with UI Toolkit?

Thank you!

[Nexer8]

As you can see in this image, the UI made with the UI toolkit lookes aliased. Is there a way to get it to look sharper before 2021.2? Also, with larger border radiuses, you can clearly see the edges/vertices of the underlying mesh; will this be fixed at some point?