Unity
Contents
General
Unity is a game engine that enables coders and non-coders alike to prototype and fully develop games in virtual reality and augmented reality as well as 2D. Using this engine, you can create games for all major platforms including desktop, mobile, and consoles like Nintendo Switch. While it is popular for video game development, Unity is expanding into other markets including Architecture, Engineering, and Construction for immersive 3D experiences as well as Automotive, Transportation, and Manufacturing for real-time 3D rendering.[1] Depending on your status as a student or a full-blown enterprise with profits over a certain threshold, you can subscribe to Unity at different rates, including for free.[2]
In 2004, the people behind Unity, founders David Helgason, Nicholas Francis, and Joachim Ante, started a game company, but in that process, they created a user-friendly software for game creation which they found to be commercially viable. Since then Unity has grown into a leading game engine. According to VentureBeat in 2020, Unity "has 53% of the top 1,000 mobile games on the Apple App Store and Google Play...Unity said that its platform is used in over 50% of mobile games, PC games, and console games."[3]
Virtual Reality
Unity comes with several tools to assist development of VR experiences:
- High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) - enabling high fidelity VR without reducing performance
- XR Interaction Toolkit - add interactivity without having to code from scratch
- Particle System - using small objects and other modules to simulate visual effects
- Spatial Audio - integrated support for ambisonic audio clips, full-sphere surround sound, sound field rotation based on the listener’s position, and more
- Stereo Instancing - to reduce power consumption from your application
Augmented Reality
Unity comes with several tools to assist development of AR experiences:
- AR Foundation - a unified workflow for developing AR apps across platforms including ARCore, ARKit, Magic Leap, and Hololens
- Unity MARS - an authoring tool on top of the AR Foundation that enables your apps to intelligently interact with your surroundings using environment and sensor data
- Unity as a Library - embedding Unity into native mobile apps, eliminating a need to rebuild mobile apps to support AR
- XR Interaction Toolkit - add interactivity without having to code from scratch
References
- ↑ https://unity.com/
- ↑ https://store.unity.com/?_ga=2.32133694.1011472943.1631303592-197027786.1631303592#plans-individual
- ↑ https://venturebeat.com/2020/08/24/unity-files-for-ipo-reveals-163-million-loss-for-2019-and-1-5-million-monthly-users/
- ↑ https://unity.com/unity/features/vr
- ↑ https://unity.com/unity/features/ar