SmartSprite and 5.6

Wondering if there will be a preview containing smart sprite based off 5.6? The reason 5.6 is a key turning point is because 2D physics do have breaking changes so we can't use a 5.5x build.

 

The contact filter stuff that was added, recoded all our player physics to use it, and it works wonderfully.

And adjusted our sprite shaders (which are custom) as Unity changed how flip works, so this isn't backward compatible either.

 

Well I'm in love with it. I have a full character controller going just how I like without any raycasts at all. this is powerful, and fast, and physical. I need it for 3D as well though because of this power of having rich contact details filtered just as you like. I no longer need raycasts or hacks. I don't need slow functions like OnCollisionStay. It's in a word, perfect.

Whoever thought up that thing needs a big thanks. I just hope there's the sense to port the same functionality to 3D, because I do wish to transfer my controller there too. It's spot on for us.

Heck I don't even need Enter calls much any more, it's improved the performance of my stuff and the quality of it.

 

Thanks Melv

But again, please elbow Physx squad / rest of Unity into at least supporting a similar set! It really is just great being able to GetContacts on a filtered list!

However onto the negatives: I found the whole effector system klunky and platformeffector basically got in my way pretty much non stop, so I don't use it for our pass-through stuff. When doing controllers with fine grain control like I do, it's just way too invasive. I guess it's good for artists or something?

 

Well the problem with platform effector was even with sides set to 0 and up set to 1, it would still snag in some cases. I gave up with it when I started having problems with it choosing to snap my player to the top (I don't remember why exactly, but just got too frustrated with it in the end).

So I've resorted to my old hack of just using layers, and when the player is travelling up and in a jump, he's on a layer that can't possibly collide with platforms. I used this fine in the Other Bros, and a couple of other titles but I really wanted to give effectors a chance. Also, as I'm controlling things manually, there's no real use for them. I'm thinking they're more an aid to simulation type games where you have a lot of physics just doing their thing.

Regarding your problem of design:

Instead of component based concepts, maybe scriptable object asset based could be used, similar to the new post effects. So you've got your PhysicMaterial, but then you've got your EffectorMaterial and this is an asset you just drag onto a collider. Perhaps that'd elegently solve your problem with components, and enable a wider range of behaviours people could set up. Doubtful I would see use of it myself but I am a mild control freak when it comes to physics.

 

Interesting, yeah - it's 5.6 b3 I tested on last. I'll give it a final shot...
Regarding project clutter, I think you're grossly overestimating how many would be needed, after all these assets, like materials will be a tiny fraction of clutter vs all the sprites, the animators for each sprite, sounds, textures and so on... I can't imagine using more than say, 5?

Reason I love assets is because they lead to less bugs. There's consistency and far less room for error if you're dropping in predefined properly set up assets.

 

On SmartSprite, an experimental version is still quite a while away but in our plans for this year. We're overhauling the design/implementation.

 

Nice we will test that when the time comes then. I rolled a version myself with Poly2Tri and it was quite a lot of fun. You guys must be planning some nice improvements.

 

I really appreciate all the hard work done, and the need to make it perfect for all cases, but waiting for years its not really an option that I like so much, so I started using Ferr2d terrain tool, I just try to understand why it takes such a long time for unity to bring out tools like this. I have a feeling it may be better to release them as open source add ons. Like the cinematic effects. At least then people already can start to use them and give feedback.

 

Yep it took me around 3 hours to get it to the point where it is production usable. I can only imagine it's just not urgent and they'd rather just take time over it.

UE4's approach is to make something and then get the feedback and then replace it. I don't see how it's avoidable.