Getting Started - Is NoesisGUI a Good Idea for us?
Posted: 20 May 2025, 21:59
I've been all over the map for UI's in my life. 55 yrs old, life long programmer, and even wrote a few of my own UI's from the ground up.
For Unity, we went down the path of NovaUI - but it was abandoned a couple years ago -- so was a "dud". I've also dabbled in uGUI and UI Toolkit -- but want something more advanced, more easily, and that can be skinned.
So I've looked at other Unity Asset Store options - and found some.
But NoesisGUI seems to stand head/shoulders above the rest, and I'm trying to find out if this impression I have is real. Not seeing much traffic here on the forums, and see the new "Noesis Studio" now in Beta. I'm fine with Beta, so long as it gets "finished" (unlike NovaUI).
My chief concerns are:
1. What is the workflow for Unity3D - can we edit UI in-game? If we have to restart (which is fine), does Unity have to "recompile itself" (inserting ~10 seconds of delay) before it runs again. Restarting is fine, so long as the delay is short.
2. Can I get started without paying yet -- I have no issue with the $260 USD cost, but don't want to sink in money until I've tried it out, and have some assurance that we can "start running with it now", and get a feel for the pros/cons of using NoesisGUI vs. one of the other solutions (from Unity Asset Store).
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Tech questions:
1. How does Noesis integrate with Unity's 3D scene/rendering? Do you create Unity-based game objects?
2. Is rendering ultimately done with Unity-based shaders? (or is it done inside of your Noesis Runtime DLL and the result is sent to Unity?)
Before investing into even "trying this out" - I wanted to see some signs of life here on the forums, and get a feel for this. We got "burnt" last time, via NovaUI - made big investment of time, only to have it abandoned, and now our work needs to be redone.
We are creating a Civilization-style game with intricate UI overlay, along with in-scene UI (labels, stats, health). So one system to do both is a benefit. Perhaps this is NoesisGUI.
For Unity, we went down the path of NovaUI - but it was abandoned a couple years ago -- so was a "dud". I've also dabbled in uGUI and UI Toolkit -- but want something more advanced, more easily, and that can be skinned.
So I've looked at other Unity Asset Store options - and found some.
But NoesisGUI seems to stand head/shoulders above the rest, and I'm trying to find out if this impression I have is real. Not seeing much traffic here on the forums, and see the new "Noesis Studio" now in Beta. I'm fine with Beta, so long as it gets "finished" (unlike NovaUI).
My chief concerns are:
1. What is the workflow for Unity3D - can we edit UI in-game? If we have to restart (which is fine), does Unity have to "recompile itself" (inserting ~10 seconds of delay) before it runs again. Restarting is fine, so long as the delay is short.
2. Can I get started without paying yet -- I have no issue with the $260 USD cost, but don't want to sink in money until I've tried it out, and have some assurance that we can "start running with it now", and get a feel for the pros/cons of using NoesisGUI vs. one of the other solutions (from Unity Asset Store).
===
Tech questions:
1. How does Noesis integrate with Unity's 3D scene/rendering? Do you create Unity-based game objects?
2. Is rendering ultimately done with Unity-based shaders? (or is it done inside of your Noesis Runtime DLL and the result is sent to Unity?)
Before investing into even "trying this out" - I wanted to see some signs of life here on the forums, and get a feel for this. We got "burnt" last time, via NovaUI - made big investment of time, only to have it abandoned, and now our work needs to be redone.
We are creating a Civilization-style game with intricate UI overlay, along with in-scene UI (labels, stats, health). So one system to do both is a benefit. Perhaps this is NoesisGUI.