Pure ECS and Text

Hello guys,
I just want to display text in a 3d world (not some HUD), with ECS. First I just want to display the position on some hexagonal cells, which are entities. Seems like there is still nothing for it, so should I create some data with a mesh and a texture, and create a system to draw on the texture? Don't have a clue of how to do it though ^^ Big newbie spotted!

 

Well, pure ECS is in weird state right now. I don't think you can do it full pure. For things like UI you'd have to go hybrid, since there's no way to sync data properly without some MonoBehaviours involved.

Unless you really want to make the whole text asset processing on your own (which, you shouldn't).

 

Or maybe I should create a Text, and using a system to link the transform of the entity? Or does it need a monobehavior to exist at all? Well I'll try it if you're saying that doing the whole processing isn't a good idea.

 

You could probably just use some number and letter textures and then draw them on quads or sprites for simple things although going hybrid with prefab tiles with UI built in will probably be easier.

Also there is the Tilemapping system built into Unity that does hexagonal cells.

 

Here one fellow is working on something to do ECS UI: https://forum.unity.com/threads/source-code-dotsui-open-source-ui-framework-for-dots.715880/
It's not without it's problems, but it is definitely capable of rendering text.

 

When was it not?