xARM: Aspect and Resolution Master [v1.9]

NEW: *** Unity 2019.1 support ***

xARM: Aspect and Resolution Master ★★★★★
is the powerful and easy-to-use editor extension that helps you to beat display fragmentation.
It contains the tools 'xARM Preview' and 'xARM Gallery' to give you a real preview of your game.

Get it now! | User Guide

xARM's main features:

• Preview at device's physical size and DPI
• Verify pixel perfectness
• Get a real preview of all targeted resolutions and display diagonals
• Compare multiple resolutions while editing
• Export ScreenCaps as PNG files
• Preview high resolutions without changing Editor layout
• Save time and trouble, boost development

No need to build to a device only to check:

• Is the GUI usable at resolution xy?
• What is the physical size of a button?
• Do the atlases switch correctly?
• Does the translation fit into its space?
• How does a change effect other resolutions?
• Does the player exactly see what was intended?
• ...

With xARM you see everything at a glance. No need to be daunted by display fragmentation.
xARM yourself!




Included resolutions and display diagonals ('ScreenCaps')
All relevant (and semi-relevant) iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 *NEW v1.04+*, WinRT *NEW v1.04+* and Standalone (up to 4K *NEW v1.7+*) devices are covered by the included resolutions and display diagonals.
Every device resolution comes with additional information (popularity, etc.) to help you to get an overview and focus on the important ones.
Just select what you like to preview!
Still not enough?
Just one line of code to add custom resolutions!

Android navigation bar support *NEW v1.02+*
The Android navigation/system bar (used by devices without hardware buttons) reduces the usable resolution, but now for every Android resolution there is the corresponding system bar version in xARM.
Check how your game really looks!

Preview in Editor, Pause and Play mode
ScreenCaps can be updated automatically or manually in Editor, Pause and Play mode.
Instantly see results of changes and also preview in-game-only content (Unity's builtin GUI, etc.).
You have full control!

uGUI support
Unity's new GUI system uGUI is supported, including its Constant Physical Size feature.
Preview the actual physical size of your GUI based on the DPI of the targeted device (not Editor). *NEW v1.6.1+*
Unleash uGUI's full potential on all devices with the help of xARM!

Supports all other extensions
xARM supports all other extensions (like NGUI, etc.) and also simple and complex GUIs.
You can preview your GUI only in Play mode (e.g. Unity's old builtin GUI)?
Your extension or image effects need some frames to react to resolution changes? *NEW v1.03+*
Also no problem!

Easy-to-use
Just import xARM into your project and set a few settings.
That's it!

Improves workflow
How do you currently verify how your game looks with different resolutions?
Switch from resolution to resolution? Build to different devices?
Seeing different resolutions at the same time and previewing at physical size right in the editor will save you a lot of time and trouble.
Boost your workflow!

Better quality games
xARM is the only comfortable way to verify your GUI and 2D/3D content is resized and positioned correctly and also sharp, readable and easily touchable on every device you are targeting!

ScreenCap export *NEW v1.04+*

Need a screenshot of your game at resolution xy?
With xARM you can export a single or a batch of ScreenCaps as PNG files.
Export got even easier with hotkeys. *NEW v1.05+*


xARM Preview:

Detailed Preview
See how your game really looks with any resolution you like to check, even if the resolution is higher than the available space (Game View's resolution is limited by it's window size).
xARM Preview's active resolution can be synced to the Game View for easy tweaking. *NEW v1.03+*
Switch between resolutions is only one hotkey away! *NEW v1.6.1*

Preview at physical size, pixel perfect or scaled
Just one click to preview any device's resolution at physical size to verify touch target sizes, etc. *NEW v1.01+*
Or activate pixel perfect mode to check for scaling issues, blur, etc. *NEW v1.01+*
Much more convenient than building to device!

Live Preview *NEW v1.04+*
Preview your game at e.g. physical size while it's running in Play mode.


xARM Gallery:

Compare while editing
Preview different resolutions at the same time and see how changes effect each resolution.
Want to switch to a specific resolution? Just click on the preview.
Instantly see and fix issues while editing!

Scale Ratio *NEW v1.02+*
With the Scale Ratio you can easily determine the physical size of each display ('ScreenCap') while comparing multiple resolutions. By default Scale Ratio's size is set to the recommended touch target size ('fingerprint'), but you can change its size to fit your needs.
Everything smaller than the Scale Ratio (white box) is considered as not easily touchable.


Features:

• Covers all relevant (and semi-relevant) devices of:
  
  iOS
  Android
  Windows Phone 8
  WinRT
  Standalone​
• Preview at physical size (device dimensions; 1:1phy) and pixel perfect (1:1px)
• Preview in Editor, Pause and Play mode
• Compare multiple resolutions and their physical scale
• Get an overview of resolution popularity, etc.
• Android navigation/system bar resolutions included
• Supports uGUI (including Constant Physical Size) and all other extensions (NGUI, etc.)
• Export ScreenCaps as PNG files
• Get focused by a sortable overview of resolution properties (popularity, devices, ...)
• Manual and live update, instantly see results of changes
• Huge time and trouble saver, will pay off soon
• Improve user experience on all targeted devices
• Performance optimized code
• No or (in very rare cases) minimal coding required
• Offers delegates, if you like to hook your code
• Full source code access (C#)
• Supports Unity Free and Pro (2019.1, 2018.x, 2017.x & 5.x)

Any kind of feedback is highly appreciated!

See AssetStore for more screenshots.

 

Hey @Thavron!

I'm really interested into your stuff but I'd really like to give this a try, I have a lot of complicated stuff with NGUI and some code I made to autogenerate it... So I'd like to see if your stuff will work with mine.

My basic aspect ratio is 16:9 but I'd like to enable people with 4:3 or so to see quite the same thing if not the same...
For the moment, my only option was to put black borders and keep 16:9 in it... Until I saw your post, so i'm really interested but i can't buy it to you without a demo, a way to test all it, etc etc

If you could contact me

 

Hi @Eraile

xARM uses Unity's GameView to create the ScreenCaps. So there shouldn't be any problem.
However if your GUI is created on startup (e.g. inside Start(), not Update()) and doesn't react to resolution changes a little coding is required.
EDIT: xARM v1.0+ supports all GUI systems.

You can check that by resizing the GameView manually in editor or play mode (ensure the resolution changes by GV's Stats).

1. If every part of your GUI reacts to that, xARM will work without coding.
2. If the GUI is static, you have to call the function to create or update the GUI from inside xARM.
   That is already on my feature list (something like xARMOnPreRender() where you can put your function call). Now it will get a higher priority.
   If you need it now, let me know and I'll give you a pre-release version or I'll help you to implement this.
   EDIT: This is now implemented. xARM v1.0+ includes delegates to hook your custom code to. So it is very comfortable to run your code before or after a ScreenCap is updated.

I hope this answers your question, if not please let me know.

 

A new xARM version is awaiting approval.
It comes with the new "xARM Preview" window.
Have a look at my first post to see the new screenshots.

 

The new xARM version is now available in the Asset Store.
Check out the new xARM Preview window and let me know how you like it.

@Eraile: I've sent you a PM.

 

xARM is now available for a massively reduced price while in beta.
Do not wait too long, v1.0 is around the corner.
(Contact me if you paid the old price.)

 

xARM v1.0 is awaiting approval. Be informed, beta is nearly over. Still you can get it for the beta price.

xARM now includes delegates to enable support of all GUI systems (even the rare "static" cases).
@Eraile: That's what I wrote about.

Changelog:
Added Delegates to run custom code:
+ OnPreScreenCapUpdate
+ OnPostScreenCapUpdate
+ OnFinalizeScreenCapUpdate
and example how to use:
+ xARMDelegatesExample.cs

Added iPhone 5C and 5S
Performance improvements
Several Bugfixes

 

xARM v1.0 is now available. After about two months beta phase is over.
Many thanks to everyone who trusted in xARM and purchased it.

Still there are a lot of features I've planned to add.
If you miss something please let me know.

 

This looks really cool and useful. My only worry is that it would just add an additional layer of complexity to my projects that might not be worth it, or might act weird with some things.

Maybe make some videos showing it's workflow in use with a couple different GUI systems and types of GUI.

 

One of my goals was to make xARM as user friendly and flexible as possible.
There is no real complexity to the user. It improves the workflow.

To setup xARM, just import it and select the resolutions you want to see.*
After that the workflow changes a little:

• "xARM Preview" replaces the GameView (none interactive part).
• Only for playing you need the GameView (its resolution is BTW also set by xARM).
• ScreenCap update can be set to manual or auto for edit and pause mode.

That's basically all 'complexity' xARM adds.

If something acts weird, you can simply deactivate xARM to check.
But that shouldn't happen, because:

• xARM is encapsuled, it doesn't interact with* or integrate into your code.
• No part of xARM is included in builds. It only runs in the editor.
• Only Unity's standard API is used, no reflection.

Will do that.

Thanks for your feedback techmage.

*Only in rare case you have to hook your GUI-Recreate function.

 

Do you actually see how it looks to scale?
ie: is the image preview actually at the same physical scale of each of the target resolutions?

 

xARM uses the GameView to render everything at the targeted resolution. So everything scales and repositions as usual.
If you for example select the ScreenCaps "iPad standard" and "iPad retina" you get two images, one at 1024x768px and one at 2048x1536px. In the editor windows these images are scaled to fit into much smaller space.

I've planned to make it possible to see the ScreenCaps at 1:1px (pixel perfect, 1px=1px) and 1:1 physical size (1cm=1cm, via PPI).
Is it that what you need? Which one? Both? If you need it I'll give it a higher priority.
Edit: Both features are implemented in xARM 1.01+. It is now possible to preview your game at 1:1px and 1:1physical size (device dimensions).

Hope I understand you correctly and answered your question. If not please let me know.

 

HI,
Thanks for the reply.

I've found for a preview to be useful you actually need to see it at the real (or close to) physical size.
Just changing the aspect ratio only shows you positional changes (ex: using ngui anchors) but does not let you see usability issues with buttons etc becoming too small at certain resolutions.

So I'm after a solution that lets me "see" those issues without having to deploy to device all the time.

ex: My app (NGUI) is designed to a 1024 x 768 landscape resolution. Fine on desktop/iPad2

If I deploy to Galaxy S3 it re-positions fine at 1280 x 720 but now UI controls are too small.
I could atlas swap or my preferred method is just to tweak the camera orthographicsize to rescale the UI up a little.
But you need to see the 1:1 physical relationship to do this.

Does that make sense?

 

Also:

How is this different from the custom resolution display in the current Unity4.2 release?

Also:
How does this work with NGUI's UIRoot options of Pixel Perfect, Fixed Size, Fixed Size on mobile + the various screen height settings?

ty!

 

Hi sonicviz,
Thanks for your thoughts.

That's exactly xARM's goal.
The current version of xARM already helps you to see these issues.
Have a look at e.g. this screenshot. You can see five ScreenCaps in the Gallery, the first three are iPhones, the last two iPads (standard/retina). You can clearly see that the retina version's button are much smaller.
But you are totally right, this could be better. Edit: Now it is better.

As I've described above I want to add a 1:1px and 1:1phy.-size option to the xARM Preview. Edit: xARM 1.01+ now features both options.
A further option I've planned is a scale ratio. Like a fingerprint on the ScreenCap to have a scale reference.
Everything smaler than this fingerprint is to small to touch easily. This will be very useful in the xARM Gallery because even when the ScreenCap is scaled down the scale reference remains.

What would you like the most?
May be I should make a poll what to add next...

That doesn't change much. You can specify a custom resolution in addition to the builtins. That's it.
The GameView's resolution is still limited by its windows size. Take a look at this screenshot.
Try this: Select a resolution in the GameView and keep an eye on its resolution shown in its Stats while resizing it. As long as the GameView window is smaller than the selected resolution you doesn't get the selected resolution.

In short: As usual.
NGUI (and all other GUI systems) react to manual GameView resizing the same as to xARM, because xARM changes resolutions by resizing the GameView. That (+ delegate hooks) enables xARM to support all GUI systems.
So a GameView at 1024x768px (check the Stats ) show exactly the same as the xARM ScreenCap at 1024x768px.

 

xARM v1.01.166 is awaiting approval.

Changelog:
xARM Preview:
+ 1:1px (pixel perfect) option
+ 1:1 physical size (device dimensions) option

Improved interaction with GameView
Several Bugfixes

@sonicviz: Your wish is my command. Now you found the solution.

xARM 1.01+ now offers an option to preview at 1:1 physical size.
The first time I saw the iPhone at physical size on my 15.4" screen I had to verify the size twice but it was correct. It looks smaller than I expected.

The new 1:1px option is a great help to check for blur, scaling issues etc.

Any else feature requests?

 

xARM v1.01.166 is now live.
Check out the new 1:1px and 1:1phy options.

 

Looks good.
Did you also implement "A further option I've planned is a scale ratio. Like a fingerprint on the ScreenCap to have a scale reference." ?

What about some videos demonstrating use?

I'm still a little wary because I have a complex NGui setup and I don't wish to add more code for this...does it work out of the box or do I have to modify my code in order to get it to display in real time? (use case: checking all functionality at device resolutions)

 

Not yet. Still on my list. EDIT: Now part of v1.02+.

I'm currently working on a video. Stay tuned. EDIT: See video in first post.

I'm 99% sure it will work out of the box without modifying your code.
For NGUI (and all other GUI systems) there is no difference between GameView resolution changes done manually or by xARM.
So if your GUI reacts to manual changes (as NGUI does) everything will work out of the box.
The video should make it more clear.

 

Finally I've finished the xARM overview video.
You can find it here: http://youtu.be/w7nmW3lS6-A or in my first post.

 

You can now also follow me (@ThavronFW) on Twitter to stay up to date and discuss new features.

 

Hello! I'm pretty interested in your solution. However as I'm not a coder I would need some explanations. We're targeting several devices for a project. OUYA and some android tablet first. In order for us to have the game running fine we have to make the unity player run at 720p instead of the native 1080p for the OUYA. On the tablets it will be an issue, there are so many different resolutions. Here you have a lot of "built in" resolutions it seems, but how do we handle the fact that we want to play the game at a lower resolution than the native one on the device?
Also, is your tool just to check out how the game would look like on the targeted devices? or is it going to rescale everything properly in the build?
Sorry about that, hope I made myself clear.
thanks in advance for your answer.

 

Hi rosor!
Thanks for asking.

xARM helps you to check out how your game would look like with all these different resolutions right in the Editor.
So you can preview e.g. 1080p and 720p and see how the GUI looks etc. Finding and fixing issues is a lot easier with xARM.
You can also check the physical size of buttons, thumb-sticks etc.
All popular (and semi-popular) resolutions are built in. Just select what you like to preview. If something exotic is missing just one line of code and it is there. If you need help, just let me know.
Because you are targeting tablet and console you will likely create 2 GUIs. One for touch and one for controller input and longer viewing distance. xARM can also display those two GUIs at the same time if you hook a function that switches between these two. (Again, let me know if you need help.)
(BTW: Afaik adding iOS should be less costly than adding OUYA, if your GUI can already beat Android fragmentation.)

But xARM doesn't rescale or change the resolution on the targeted device. So it can't force 720p on OUYA or tablets.
Try this: http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/ScriptReference/Screen.SetResolution.html
Probably picture quality will suffer and scaling e.g. 4:3 to 16:9 aspect will also look weird.

It is also possible to force an aspect ratio: http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php/AspectRatioEnforcer
But that doesn't help right? And it adds ugly letter boxing on screen and breaks default positioning/anchoring.

If there is a feature you miss in xARM please let me know.

Hope that makes it more clear and helps.
Feel free to ask anything.

 

xARM v1.02.194 is awaiting approval.
It comes with very useful new features!

Highlights:

Scale Ratio in Gallery
With the Scale Ratio you can easily determine the physical size of each display ('ScreenCap') while comparing multiple resolutions. By default Scale Ratio's size is set to the recommended touch target size ('fingerprint'), but you can change the Scale Ratio size to fit your needs. Everything smaller than the Scale Ratio (white box) is considered as not easily touchable.

New Devices ('ScreenCaps')
The latest iOS and Android devices are added.
(iPad Mini 2, iPad Air, Nexus 7 2. generation, Nexus 5)

Android system bar support
The Android system bar reduces the usable resolution, but now for every Android resolution there is the corresponding system bar version in xARM. Check how your game really looks!



Changelog v1.02.194
xARM Gallery:
+ Scale Ratio ('fingerprint')

new ScreenCaps:
+ iPad Mini 2
+ iPad Air
+ Nexus 7 2. generation
+ Nexus 5

Android ScreenCaps with system/navigation bar offset (based on density group)
Bugfixes

 

I've updated the description in the opening post. Now it is much more detailed.
If something still is unclear please let me know.

 

I've found a bug I had to fix in unreleased awaiting-approval v1.02.194, fixed it and resubmitted as v1.02.198.
Sorry for the delay.
Current release v1.01.166 isn't affected by this bug.

 

xARM 1.02 is now available in the AssetStore.
Check out the great new features: Scale Ratio in Gallery, Android system bar and latest devices.

 

Very cool package.

Any chance you'll be promoting this asset with unity's 24hr Sale?

If you do, please do let us know.

Cheers.

 

That's a great way to piss off customers that bought it at the full price to support the developer.

What an unheard of concept...buying a product to support development!

 

Actually, the 24hr sale makes Great business sense for developers. For new customers to try out a new product.
Many packages are propelled up the "Top Grossing List" after a 24 hr sale.

Actually, it's economics 101. As the price decreases, the number of buyers increases. If you look at the asset store, some really great assets just sit there for a very long time without customers. Once they go on sale, people go nuts over the asset.

The bottom line to the developer is a Great Increase in Total Revenue which definitely supports development.

If you are not sure if the 24hr sale benefit the developer, ask some of those who have participated in the 24hr sale and see if they have increased their earnings.

 

All well and good. Personally I've scored very well on some sales (24hr otherwise) and also bought many at the going price. So it goes, in the words of Kurt Vonnegut.

But...here's the thing.

As a developer it's extremely demeaning to:

1. Compliment someone on the quality and usefulness of their product
2. In the same breath say "but let me know when it's on sale"

Think about it.

 

Quite often the intention is different then how one takes it.

My intention is to compliment and actually very neutral. I think it's a great asset and my budget is limited.
I am simply asking to inform when there is a promotion. I have asked other asset developers and they were
very happy to tell me when it's on sale. Not every developer thinks the same way.

 

Thanks rocki and sonicviz.
I'm glad you like xARM. I understand both perceptions.

Let me try to explain my perception:
Everyone (new&old users and developers of assets) benefit from more users, because developers can put more time into enhancing an asset the more money they get. If developers don't get enough money they have to work on other things to pay the bills.
That's the reason why assets like NGUI are as good as they are. They had the chance to improve over time.

The cycle:
1. Developers: Bills are paid --> add more features
2. Old users: new features for free!
3. New users: purchases to get needed features
4. goto #1

A lot of features are on my list to get included in xARM. I'd like to implement every single one

So how do we get more users?
Comment! Buy! Rate! Review! Spread the word!

I appreciate any kind of feedback.

 

For all DFGUI users: I'm currently in contact with the DFGUI-creator to further improve support.

 

xARM is on SALE - 24 Hour Deal!
60% off! Don't miss it!

 

xARM supports all GUI systems, so I've added a DFGUI example to the first post:

 

Did you notice xARM is today's 24h Deal? 60% off!
Take the opportunity and xARM yourself to beat display fragmentation, improve user experience and boost development!

 

xARM 24h Deal is already half over!
Thanks a lot to everyone who purchased so far!

 

Hi Thavron,

How XARM takes care of different Atlases in order to take preview shots for different resolutions?
Or does user has to select altas based on device type(retina,non-retina) before run?

Thanks.

 

Hi dev_2051,

xARM changes the resolution for the duration of one frame while updating the "ScreenCaps".
So if the atlas is selected based on the active resolution it just works.
In rare cases, if the atlas is switched based on some fancy code, you can still hook your own function to xARM's delegates which are called before and after each ScreenCap update. (Example is included. Feel free to contact me if you need help.)
In any case nothing has to be selected manually.

Hope I could clear thing up.

 

Time is running out! Less then 3 hours of 24h Deal left!
Hurry to get xARM for 60% off!

 

Thanks Thavron just bought XARM,looking good tool to test apps on different resolutions,that to without creating different builds

 

I'm glad you like it.

For all others: Last minutes of 24h Deal are ticking!

 

Thanks a lot to everyone who bought, twittered, etc. while 24h Deal!!!

Any kind of feedback is highly appreciated.
Feel also free to give xARM a rating in the AssetStore.

Good luck with all your projects!

For all who couldn't take part in 24h Deal: For a limited time xARM is on sale for 36% off!

 

@Mike CY (AssetStore Review):

Thanks a lot for your review and suggestions!

While gathering the informations I found different data for some of the SCs and tried my best to pick the right ones.
Sometimes even the real and official/marketing data weren't exactly the same…
So according to Wikipedia and other sources (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_iOS_devices) 326 DPI is correct.
I couldn't find a source stating 320. Where did you get the 320 DPI from?

At the bottom line it shouldn't make a noticeable difference, but feel free to change it.
Just open xARMManager.cs, goto InitAvailScreenCaps() and change the DPI as you like (there is one line per SC).

I'm not sure what you mean exactly. What's the issue behind this idea?
(You can sort the list by clicking on the column headers to find resolutions more easy, if that's your problem.)

Or do you mean something like this:
:idea::
I've planned to add grouping to the ScreenCaps (SC), to improve overview in the xARM Gallery if many SCs are active.
xARM Gallery will have an additional drop down to de/select groups of the active SC list to only preview them.
It will be based on SC-Properties (OS, Diagonal, etc) or group 1-10 (set per SC in Options). I'm currently undecided…

@ll: What would you prefer?

 

xARM is rated 5/5 stars in the AssetStore!
I highly appreciate your feedback! Thanks a lot!

 

Hi Thavron. Just testing xARM on a project that uses 2dtoolkit and I'm getting some unexpected results. It's quite possible that these are down to me misunderstanding how 2dtk or xARM work though, but I just wanted to check with you before looking further.

I have a tk2dCamera set up with the following single override:
Match by : Wildcard
Auto Scale: Closest Multiple of two
Fit Mode: Center

My goal with this setup is to have my game 'pixels' enlarge in size to cleanly occupy as large an area as possible on screen based on the current device's resolution.

But if I do a quick check in xARM gallery I can see that many of the resolutions give a squashed look (imagery is narrower than expected). I believe I've set up mty xARM options correctly. Do you know if xARM should work correctly with 2d toolkit camera overrides?

 

Hi bitbutter. Thanks for purchasing xARM!

By default all interactions between xARM and 2dtoolkit (or other extensions) are done indirectly by changing GameView's resolution.
So if something looks wrong the best thing to do is to resize the GameView manually to the resolution (important: check by GV's Stats) and compare it with xARM Preview with active 1:1px. Both images should exactly look the same.
If both are the same, but not what you want, the issue is at least not on xARM's side.

A second thing to try is the Play mode.
I don't own 2dtoolkit, but I took a look into it's documentation and it has a preview native resolution setting.
Sometimes extensions with such setting behave differently in Edit and Play mode.
So try to update the ScreenCaps while in Play mode (you can pause if needed). Also compare with GameView as described above.
If its correct in Play mode but not in Edit mode please let me know. It should be possible to fix it via xARM's Delegates.

Also keep in mind that the Android system bar resolutions are smaller in height.

Feel free to contact me here or via mail (see ReadMe).

 

Thanks for the fast reply Thavron. It seems that xARM is giving me a different looking image than what i see in the game window under some resolutions. i took a screen shot showing a comparison, the image in the game window (non squashed) looks as expected, xARMs preview is wider than i expected: (shots taken in play mode)http://i.imgur.com/jU3WeYl.png

 

Ah maybe i misunderstood something. Apologies. How do i check xARM previews in 1:1 mode?

EDIT: I see that 1:1 is an option in the Preview window (not the gallery one). If i use the preview window, with the game window set to the same resolution as I'm checking, then the xARM preview looks as expected. That's what I was after! (i'm not sure what was going wrong with the gallery views earlier).

Thanks again for your help.