Unity iPhone Publishing has shipped, start chattin'!

Hey all, being as we've shipped we ought to have a place to talk about developing for the iPhone and iPod touch.

 

Does the iphone pro version support any Render-to-Texture Effects?

 

No, neither the advanced nor the basic license do.

 

That's a limitation of openGL ES on the iPhone, right?

 

IIRC, yes (restated: it's not a limit we chose to impose).

 

Can we get a trial version and install it without it effecting our Pro installation of Unity?

 

No, not yet, those will be available on request (by writing sales@unity3d.com) shortly. When you do that we'll provide a new temporary serial number that you'll use (which will still allow your normal Pro to work) until it expires. When it expires you simply plug in your original serial and you're off (or of course you buy the iPhone license! ).

 

So, how do we do that use-iPhone-as-a-USB-controller-and-screen thing?

 

Build the Unity Remote iPhone application (it's a XCode project found in Applications/Unity iPhone), get it installed on your phone. Once it's there you can then press play inside authoring and launch the remote app on your device. The first thing it will do is prompt you to select the machine you want to connect to and off you go. Make sure that your device is on the same network as your computer with Unity.

 

Just dropped a wad of cash in the Unity store. Waiting for the link. Excited. Need to clear the deck of all other work. Need to make a game to recover this investment. Need more coffee.

 

Doesn't iPhones OpenGL ES version support pBuffers which would allow r2t effects theoretically?

 

I'm not sure if this is correct but Apple may not allow render to texture to prevent people writing their own media players.

 

If they want to prevent you from it, they just put it up as forbidden app type in the EULA as they do it with the other apps.

 

Tell you what... write Apple a nice note and I'm sure they will make the change for you right away.

 

I doubt that. There are other ways to blit video to the screen.

Regardless, I don't see EXT_framebuffer_object in the iPhone headers.

If you're unfamiliar with the video hardware in the iPhone, give this article a look: http://www.ddj.com/mobile/209600498

A good summary:

 

So, just to be clear... do I now develop using this new Unity iPhone for ALL of my unity content? (as in, this supersedes my 2.1 pro license?) or I work in 2.1 for my general stuff and work in this version for my iPhone ports only?

 

Also... will this work ok with my Gen 1 iPhone, if it is running OS 2.1? or do I need to go out and buy a new 3G iPhone ?

 

I'm building iPhone apps using a 1st generation iPhone. No GPS or 3G, but it has everything else I need to develop with, and the Unity iPhone apps work just fine.

 

Thats very cool. Would that apply to a first gen touch I wonder?

Also I'm dying to know, how are skinned meshes going on iPhone/touch? like Raimunds robot, and goober, Lerpz etc?

Cheers
AaronC

 

Awesome

 

I only have an iTouch of the first generation and it works without any problem.
the hardware is still the same under the hood at least the one thats relevant here (touch + accelerometer + wifi)

 

I would be amazed if it doesnt, because the iPod Touch 1G/2G, the iPhone 2G/3G all have exactly the same hardware capabilities when it comes to video and stuff like that, the only difference is the antennas and their interfaces (GSM/3G/GPS/Bluetooth).

Very exited about the iPhone deployment, looking forward to try to make som iPhone apps without getting into the heavy Objective C code. Good work Unity!

 

tonight i'll give this a spin and see how it goes, i managed to run the example, but had to tweak the xcode project Unity created, still very straightforward

 

has anyone an idea where the sample game is on the harddisk? can't find it and would need it to find out how the collision works because I can not get my mesh terrain to work with collision (mesh collider) against the regular player prefab.

 

Has the question been answered yet as to whether this is the version of Unity we should use for Mac, PC, and web player builds as well for the future? i.e. Does this supersede our previous Unity 2.1 installs?

 

From what I can see the only thing you can publish to in Unity iPhone, is the iPhone. So I'm gonna keep my other Unity software as well.

 

The made with Unity logo shows up everytime I run a Unity project, how should I go about disabling this? I see this image in the Xcode project, but assume there is a right way to take this out.

This is with the advance version.

 

You simply remove the file Default.png.

Xcode looks for a file named Default.png and uses it as a "splash screen". It's really intended to make it look like the application is started faster than it is by using an image similar to the first view of the application... (You can put any image of your choice here, use the same dimensions and name, and the rest is done for you)

Tomas

 

Every time a project is built this Default.png gets overridden. There must be a better way of disabling this splash, after getting the advance version one would think you should not really need to deal with this annoyance.

Later I'll dig into the code to figure out whats up.

 

I did forget to mention, how impressed I am with this. I've worked with the best tools in the games industry, and Unity3D is up there, doing what it needs to do.

 

I agree. As far as I know, you're not supposed to do any changes in the xcode project. The thing is, that I want to do some changes and I'm currently trying to get more info on the subject.

As it is now, I get run down by Unity every time I build the project.

 

Give the guys a little bit of time to run Unite, their event, they have to be present and focused' for that. They will deal to most if not all problems in a timely manner- Its what they do- so just give them a little time to catch up with this stuff. Im sure it will be fine.

/2c

AC

 

I really regret not having the chance to go to Unite 08, but on the plus side the savings got me an upgrade from Indie to Pro + Asset + iPhone Std :wink:

I just hope that UT continues to go down the same road they've been once the windows crowd comes rushing in (don't sell the company! )

Btw, shouldn't the iPhone what's new page be different from the 2.1? When I follow the link in the readme inside the .dmg I go to 2.1 what's new page (http://unity3d.com/whatsnew-iPhone.html).

Regards,
Afonso

 

Yes, you should. My understanding is that as of now, this is in addition to your primary Unity install.

 

So, when do the docs ship? ;-)

 

The docs are not up on the website, but they are in your local Unity installation. Check the Reference Manual and the Scripting Reference for all the goods.

 

There are a few pages if sketchy stuff, but I was hoping for some actual code examples.

The docs pages covering the API for most iPhone functions merely list the function and briefly describe it. To look at the docs and StarTrooper, you'd never be able to do much anything with the touch support.