Best Practice: 3D GUI or Built-in uGUI?

Question

I see two main ways of implementing GUIs in Unity:

What is the best practice regarding this? Is it completely dependent on application?

Which method is less performance-heavy, especially considering mobile devices?

Answer 1

Answer by Zodiarc · Sep 22, 2014 at 09:06 AM

You could also download the latest Unity 4.6 stable beta and use the new UI system. http://unity3d.com/unity/beta/4.6

You can also use the unity animation system to make nice transitions and fade-in or fade-out effects.

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bradmarxmoosepi · Sep 22, 2014 at 09:22 AM 0

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Thanks, that looks great. Hooray for Unity!

Zodiarc · Sep 22, 2014 at 09:50 AM 0

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Protip: If you want to add a listener to a button programatically, it's not very obvious and they don't appear in the inspector.

Here's the code:

 var button: UnityEngine.UI.Button = ButtonDoingStuff.GetComponent("Button");
 button.onClick.AddListener(function() {<CALL YOUR FUNCTION HERE>});

Or you can also define an action and pass it to the Listener:

 var action: UnityEngine.Events.UnityAction;
 action = function() {<CALL YOUR FUNCTION HERE>};

Answer 2

Answer by bradmarxmoosepi · Sep 22, 2014 at 09:04 AM

For instance, I see some advantages and disadvantages of the 3D method:

Advantages:

Can use AnimatorControllers to give excellent effects like fade-ins and fade-outs
Can do more advanced things, such as radial controls, easier than with the built-in GUI system
Can incorporate 3D models into the GUI if you wish
Can give perspective, shadows, etc. very easily

Disadvantages:

Scripting becomes slightly messy, as either each control needs to have its own script to control its behaviour, or a very monolithic controller class with handles to each of its controls has to be written.
Dynamic lists, which could easily be handled by ScrollViews become a little more tricky

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