Programming

Unity: Don’t Cache in OnTrigger

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In a nutshell: steer clear of OnTrigger callbacks when it comes to managing caches.   By caches, I’m referring to any collection that monitors the objects within the collider. These callbacks prove unreliable, and Unity currently has no plans to address this behaviour in the immediate future.   There’s no assurance that you’ll consistently receive … Read more

Unity: Better Inspector

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Improving the inspector in Unity can have significant benefits for game development efficiency and workflow.   An organized and easy-to-read inspector layout can provide quick access to game objects, components, and properties, making it simpler to identify and modify different elements of the game without having to navigate a cluttered and confusing interface.   In … Read more

What’s Antialiasing and Why is it Blurry?

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Before we talk about antialiasing, we must discuss the problem it tries to solve. It’s called aliasing and is generated by improper sampling.   Aliasing The term originates in the field of signal processing. In computer graphics, it describes a variety of ugly artefacts and image flaws created by improper sampling. Staircase-like artefacts that appear … Read more

Book Recommendation: Algorithm Design

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I really like reading in general but especially reading technical books. In contrast to digital content, a book must pass a technical review before publication. This ensures to a certain degree that the content is good or at least not entirely wrong.   When searching for information online you must always ensure that you are … Read more

Unity: Animator State Lost?

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Sometimes there is an animated gameObject which mustn’t stop animating or its state breaks. If it should continue off-screen you can set the Culling Mode of the animator to Always Animate.   But sometimes that’s not enough. When you disable an animator in the mid of an animation, it’s most likely stuck the next time … Read more

Unity: Events vs Interfaces

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“Events are evil!” is a common opinion among Unity developers. What are the reasons behind this statement and are interfaces an alternative to events? Example implementation at the bottom.     Problems A common source for event bugs are timing issues. For an event to work correctly you have to subscribe before it’s triggered and … Read more

Unity: Null Check Not Working?

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Ever checked an object for null and it didn’t work? Computers do precisely what you tell them to do -> it must be a programming error that bypasses the null check.   This is one of the moments where I doubt my sanity as a programmer.   What Happened? The C# target object isn’t null … Read more

Unity: Create Assets with Dynamic Name/Properties

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Problem The CreateAssetMenu attribute is handy if you want a quick way to instantiate scriptable objects.  But it falls short when a dynamic name or the initialization of different properties is needed, for example, the generation of a custom ID.   Solution The solution is to create the asset yourself. The CreateAssetMenu attribute is only … Read more

Unity: Preserve Articulation Body State

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One constraint of articulation bodies is that they lose their physics state if their hierarchy changes. This behaviour manifests as snapping back to their initial configuration/position. You can find a short overview of the constraints and advantages of articulation bodies here.   Problem Changing the active state of the root articulation body is also a … Read more

Unity: Articulation Body Overview

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The system was integrated for industry applications like realistic physic simulations for robotics or the training of neural networks. But it can also be used in games where a high precision physics simulation is needed. For example physics-based puzzles.   Some parts of the feature are still buggy or not completely implemented yet. Especially the … Read more