Although I liked a lot of the changes since Unity 5, I am especially satisfied with all the focus on 2D features. They were always seriously lacking prior to 4.6, and even after they seemed abandoned until awhile after Unity5. I was pleasantly surprised when I began to see major improvements for 2D, rather than complete abandonment in favor of full focus on 3D. In the last year alone, there have been some awesome improvements & planned features for 2D. Even after each big update, I am still excited for the features coming afterwards. Either because I would enjoy them or because I know it’s what the engine really needs.
I just got around to replacing my Sprite Packer with the supplant Sprite Atlas. This is a major improvement. It was a PITA to tag every single texture, keep track of the exact spelling of each string, and the inevitable lag of selecting more than a few objects in the project tab.
Now with Sprite Atlas, I can just drag & drop a single folder. The HD/SD feature is also very useful!
This immediately solved some of my problems, especially considering “Sprite Packer” had a limit of 2048x2048 maximum size. Some of my sprites in full HD (4k resolution) are bigger than that before packing. This really helped a lot. I love that I can now have three separate versions: 4K, 1080p (HD), and perhaps an even lower SD resolution if I ever need - by simply creating a new asset.
The new Sorting Group feature is also a lifesaver. The moment I heard this was incoming, I was able to stop work on my own system which I’m sure saved me a good amount of time. And when it came? It works fantastically! Took a few seconds to setup and “Just Works!”
All around, IMO all the updates since 5.4 have been fantastic & impressive. Too many to mention or remember. I love the new direction Unity has ever since around the same time as their leadership changed (John Riccitiello becoming CEO). I’m not sure what actually changed, but it’s hard to believe this was a coincidence since their direction before this was IMO pretty got darn awful, I’ll tell you what.
Yep.