Since Unity packages all their images this makes it really difficult to work with an artist.
I have to give them my unity files + have them install unity so they can run the game and see the changes they made.
Is there a solution to NOT have the images packaged for Unity so artists can change things and test them out just by restarting the game?
Instead I would have to write a load checker for all the images if I want to do this which is incredibly time consuming as their are more than 200 images in my game.
I don’t want to give the artist my entire package.
You can load images at runtime if they’re stored in StreamingAssets folder. So you CAN create a debug version for them that will load from there and not from the project itself. Though it will be a pain to manage and if you’re using stuff like 9-sliced spirtes, that’ll be extra fun.
If you’re wokring with pbr, then the authoring tool (substance painter) likely will produce something that will be very close to what you’ll see within unity, so they don’t really even need the build.
You can give them stripped down package.
Normally, however, you work with people you trust and those who signed contract/nda with you, so data exchange should not be a problem.