Unity UI: Flexible, faster, full visual control

Unity is a cross-platform game creation system developed by Unity Technologies, including a game engine and integrated development environment (IDE). It is used to develop video games for web sites, desktop platforms, consoles, and mobile devices. First announced only for Mac OS, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in 2005, it has since been extended to target more than fifteen platforms. It is now the default software development kit (SDK) for the Nintendo Wii U.

Unity UI: Flexible, faster, full visual control

Create at speed

The new UI system is leaps ahead of the old, it’s easy to build what you want and do it quickly with little or no coding necessary. Get all this out of the box:

• Fast and flexible workflows
• Low memory allocations and high performance
• Easy multiplatform deployment
• Unique animation capabilities

Fully optimized

With batching, texture atlasing and the new canvas component, we’ve come up with the optimal solution to allow your UIs to execute quickly on GPUs. Draw calls are kept low and performance remains high across all supported Unity platforms and device resolutions.

Intuitive layout tools

Laying out and resizing elements is easy with the new Unity UI. Design detailed layouts using the Rect Transform layout tools, and automate grids of UI elements with our built-in components.

Flexible anchoring

Take advantage of simple visual tools to anchor UI elements. The UI element maintains its anchored position regardless of changes to parent size or screen resolution. Want to anchor different elements relative to different positions on the canvas? No problem.

Smooth resizing

You can set UI elements to stretch along with the parent rectangle, or to maintain fixed margins inside it. In addition, each side of a UI element can be anchored individually, allowing you to set up sophisticated layouts without scripting.

Get animated

Animation plays a key part in your new UI workflow for creating dynamic layouts with slick transitions. Animate any part of your UI layouts, from bouncing buttons to animated material properties for detailed motion.

Get started...

To discover how the new Unity UI system can kickstart your game interface, check out the many UI tutorials on our Learn site.
For indepth information on all the new features, see the release notes.

Comparison Free vs. Pro version:

Side-by-side comparisons of the various Unity licenses http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses

 

Free alternatives:  

• http://www.panda3d.org - Panda3D is a game engine, a framework for 3D rendering and game development for Python and C++ programs. Panda3D is Open Source and free for any purpose, including commercial ventures.
• http://www.blender.org/features/  - Blender Game Engine
• http://www.crystalspace3d.org/main/Main_Page
• List_of_game_engines_Wiki