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Can I use Unity for making non-game Apps?
unity is game development software!! but may i use it for apps(none games) like game engines, video editting softwares, sound recording softwares, etc...
and may i know any apps that are used to create none-game apps like used to make game engines or others?? thx
That's exactly the problem with how Unity is marketing its engine. You make make whatever you want with any 3d engine, tho they might let you think or provide you with more features that are targeted for games, but really, it's not: Unity is a plain, very powerful, 3d engine. I have done a excavator simulation for example, that's not a game, but a mechanical, technical , educational application proof of concept, not a game. And you can even use your gamepad or joystick with it, and yet again it's still not a game :)
Unity can be used to make non-game apps, and often is, however these non-game apps often still make use of Unity's core features. These types of apps typically include:
- architectural walkthroughs
- instructional interactive demonstrations
- training simulations
- product visualisations
However, Unity isn't best suited to actually "making a game engine", because unity already is a game engine. Game engines themselves are generally written in c++, and sit at a "lower level" in terms of complexity and abstraction. One of the main reasons to use Unity is so that you don't have to write your own game engine, which includes not having to make or license your own physics, audio, renderering pipeline, etc.
So, unless you're considering making some kind of simpler "make your own game" software for non-programmers to use in the tradition of the old "construction kit" tools from the olden days, you would probably want to choose a lower-level development setting such as c++.
Unity also isn't really a suitable choice if you want want to create your own video editing software or sound recording software because it is so heavily biased towards making realtime "game-like" products. While you can use custom c++ dlls in Unity to do pretty much whatever you want in standalone builds, Unity itself doesn't give you low-level access to audio waveform data, video signal data.
Even if they are not actually games, most Unity productions are game-like to some degree, in that they make use of unity's ability to render mesh-based 3d or 2d graphics very fast using the GPU, and often the built-in physics.
So, hopefully you can see that Unity is an extremely capable engine - one of the best of its kind - but for anything which falls significantly outside its core features, Unity might not be the best choice.
PreciousVault on the app store is a non game app made with unity. A big construction of gui and 2d textures. Users are not willing to wait for a non game to load. So not recommended from my side. Making games is also way more fun :)
probably unity is the best for making a 3d animation application something like motion builder , I guess it has the most of what you need for such a thing already
Understanding the large Physics incorporated in Unity, the use of a framework that can be used to develop for multiple operating systems at the same time, and not only that but the great API's that have been developed for Unity, I am sure it is a very good tool to develop excellent Apps that are not game based. Additionally, have you heard of the exploiting market of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality? Unity is a very powerful tool for the new disrupted Virtual Augmented Reality. Check Vuforia and many other SDK's for Unity.
I knew Unity may have the potential to make non-game apps. But could anybody tell is it legal for the developers to use Unity (and the assets bought from unity asset store) to make non-game apps ? And how to identify whether the category of an app is a game.
The Asset Store grants you only the right to make games and interactive media. Read the EULA and think about what you can't do with a bare Unity engine but without lots of purchased assets. I hope this is just my mistake.
In Asset Store Terms of Service and EULA (https://unity3d.com/legal/as_terms): Licensor grants to the END-USER a non-exclusive, worldwide, and perpetual license to the Asset to integrate Assets only as incorporated and embedded components of electronic games and interactive media and distribute such electronic game and interactive media.
Unity is also used to make non-games apps; it is not anymore just a game-engine; it is today the most important Virtual Reality Application Engine; you can use it to develop VR applications for all available VR devices; that is the biggest future I see for unity today -> merging Database Applications with 3D visualization capabilities. It demands OpenGL/DirectX rendering witch can be done by hardcoding directX or openGL applications OR by using Unity3D - thats the smart choise of course - you will never ever write math code to render 3D data on unity (only if you really want it) and you can enjoy all C# framework on it; it will evolve so quickly and so strong I bet microsoft or some other bigger company will soon acquire Unity for good.
