Like the calendar year, Unity 2017 isn’t slowing down, as it took the team less than three months to follow the release of Unity 2017.1 up with Unity 2017.2. Oh, and it’s no minor update either, in spite of what the version numbering may lead some to believe, bringing with it a slew of Unity 2D additions, among other things. Most of these are too technical for me to parse properly for this article, but… that’s not gonna stand in my way!
Seriously though, as I said, Unity 2017.2 is a bit of a love letter to Unity 2D users, in that they finally get 2D-specific Cinemachine features like… oh I don’t know, the ability to move the camera and track objects (Framing Transposer) and… something about grouping objects (Group Target). Good stuff, no doubt, and they also managed to throw in some general improvements – “sprite atlas packing”, for example, which is a timesaver of sorts. I think.
Oh, and how about some In-Editor Tutorials, making it easier than ever before to get started with Unity (note: not a Unity 2D exclusive feature)? As someone who’s tried several times to grasp the basics of the engine and failed miserably, this just might be a genuinely groovy thing. And I’m sure there are others out there who are having a hard time too… right?
There’s a LOT more to Unity 2017.2 than the few things I’ve brought up here, but we both know you’re better off simply perusing the blog post yourself, and the same goes for its release notes, of course. Not because I am lazy, mind you – I simply don’t understand most of it.
(Source: Unity 2017.2 is now available)