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Resolved When will the Graph Tools be ready?

Discussion in 'Authoring Dev Blitz Day 2023' started by Catsoft-Studios, Jan 25, 2023.

  1. Catsoft-Studios

    Catsoft-Studios

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    We've been working with UIToolkit since it was available and it makes creating Editor tools so much easier (can't say the same for runtime UI, but that's another topic).

    We've seen more and more features being added, such as List View, Tree Views, Overlays, ... But Graph Tools have been redesigned at least 2 times that we know (GraphView and GTFO).

    So the question would be: Where is Unity at the moment with this? Do we have a rough estimate to when they will be launched? Will they be as a PM package, or built-in in the Editor?

    Thanks in advance!
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2023
    Catsoft-Studios, Jan 25, 2023
    #1
    valentinwinkelmann, Qriva, z1201121212 and 5 others like this.

  2. Caetleo

    Caetleo

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    I have the same question, can we get any response on this issue? Would love to start working on some projects requiring Graph Tools.
     
    Caetleo, Jan 25, 2023
    #2

  3. MadStuntman

    MadStuntman

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    It is very expected feature for UI Toolkit and it's postponed release make a lot of inconveniences, because it make impossible complete migration from uGUI to UI Toolkit.
     
    MadStuntman, Jan 25, 2023
    #3

  4. EricDziurzynski

    EricDziurzynski

    Unity Technologies

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    Hello all,

    GraphView is still in maintenance mode and will not be deprecated until we can replace it with GTF so that is currently your best option for any graph based tool development. When GTF is ready to be released as a public API, our intent is to provide all of the features and documentation necessary for rapid development of new, performant tools. We are hopeful that this approach can and will mitigate any frustrations related to rebuilding tools.

    That being said, our focus is for GTF to serve as a common front end UI/UX solution for all node based tools in the Unity Editor and we need to ship at least one of those tools before assessing the readiness for GTF being a public API. We’re currently focused on releasing an update to Shader Graph with GTF as the front end as soon as possible and this will help us assess the readiness of GTF for public use. There is no exact timeline for this release or the release of GTF as a public API. Other node-based tools with GTF as a front end are also concurrently in development.

    Our current approach is for GTF to be built into the editor and available as a public API.

    If you have specific feature requests for GTF or can share how you would most like to be able to use it for tool development, please add your feedback directly to the public roadmap entry for node-based tools creation. This really does help us better understand what features we need to add to GTF and how we need to be able to support, maintain, and continue to develop it after release.

    Thank you!
     
    EricDziurzynski, Jan 26, 2023
    #4
    mariandev likes this.

  5. Baste

    Baste

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    Is GTF based around IMGUI, UITK, or it's own thing?
     
    Baste, Jan 26, 2023
    #5

  6. EricDziurzynski

    EricDziurzynski

    Unity Technologies

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    It's based off of UITK
     
    EricDziurzynski, Jan 26, 2023
    #6
    Baste likes this.

  7. Caetleo

    Caetleo

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    Thank you for the fast reply, Great Info. Helps Devs lead towards success.
     
    Caetleo, Jan 26, 2023
    #7

  8. Qriva

    Qriva

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    Sorry to repeat the same question again, but I feel like we could get a bit better answer.
    I understand you can't throw any declarations out of nowhere, but could you give us some rough estimation? Is unity 2023.2 real scenario for the release? or it's more like 2025.3? Or if it's easier, the opposite way - "We should not expect this to be released sooner than Unity 20XY.Z version".
     
    Qriva, Jan 26, 2023
    #8
    MadStuntman and Catsoft-Studios like this.

  9. EricDziurzynski

    EricDziurzynski

    Unity Technologies

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    @Qriva we're working to ship Shader Graph as soon as possible but have no exact timeframe for that release. Whenever we're able to ship that, we'll re-assess the readiness of GTF for public release. Committing to any timeline at this point, even if it's rough, doesn't make sense for us unfortunately.
     
    EricDziurzynski, Jan 26, 2023
    #9
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  10. Sangemdoko

    Sangemdoko

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    Sorry to bring this up again.

    I'm considering making a graph tool (for Unity 2022 LTS) and I'm wondering what API to use.
    If I were to start making a graph editor with GraphView, how complex is it estimated to be if I were to switch to GTF later on?
    Will it be simply replacing the base class and some of the overrides?
    Or will it be completely different making the port essentially re-writing the whole thing?
     
    Sangemdoko, May 12, 2023
    #10
    valentinwinkelmann and hackasn like this.

  11. Kerihobo

    Kerihobo

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    @EricDziurzynski I'd also love to know. I see the latest package we can use for GTF is compatible with 2020.3+, no idea when that 0.11 version was made available. I'd love to just make an informed decision about what to use right now.

    If GraphView is going to be deprecated, how is it workable advice to use it? Is it supposed to be easy to port our tools to GTF once GraphView is deprecated? With tool development we are thinking long-term. It might be safer to use something third-party like xNode until a time when we know what is happening with GTF. It's been a year since your last response in this thread and there is still very little information elsewhere.
     
    Kerihobo, Feb 27, 2024
    #11

  12. ACCIAIO

    ACCIAIO

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    At this point it's been over a year since the first question was posted on this thread and we're still groping in the dark, with GraphView that is just on life support because at Unity they don't know how to deal with its corpse. It's basically a zombie that can't die because the replacement is stuck in traffic or whatever. Please, just tell us something, we have a tool that requires GTF but we can't even use the latest preview because it's not compatible with unity 2022, it doesn't even compile
     
    ACCIAIO, Mar 26, 2024
    #12