VR, AI and engine are undoubtedly the three most favored "darlings" in the meta-universe concept. Among them, VR can provide a "touchable" meta-universe imagination space, AI can promote the leapfrog improvement of the meta-universe experience, and the engine is the underlying tool for architecture and landing meta-universe content. In the field of engines, Unity is the most widely used.
According to data officially released by Unity, 72% of the top 1,000 mobile games in the world are made using Unity, and the monthly downloads of applications built using Unity reach 5 billion times. Now, on the one hand, Unity is expanding into smart cities, smart offices, automotive HMI and other fields, and on the other hand, it is also continuing to invest in the research and development of technologies such as high-definition rendering pipelines (HDRP).
Review the company's dynamics in the metaverse. In August 2021, Unity first talked about its role in the development of the metaverse, and then its actions gradually became frequent, including the development of related tools such as "Unity Cloud Distributed Computing Power Solution", the acquisition of the " Avatar " visual effects team to strengthen the ability to shape the metaverse, build a metaverse platform with cross-field partners such as Hyundai Motor, and joining the Mesocosmic Working Committee of the China Electronics Industry Standardization Technology Association, etc.
Unity Virtual Office Project Concept Display
With the rise of the concept of metaverse, most teams from all walks of life have begun to understand and use the Unity engine and use it to construct their metaverse concept products.
A view that the outside world agrees is that the reason why Unity has become one of the most active players and firm supporters of the metaverse is that the deep logic is that the metaverse has given Unity more market opportunities outside the game field, and it will even far exceed the development space in the game field. So how does Uinty understand the key issues of the metaverse? How can you maintain your competitiveness?
In this issue of the [100 People in the Metaverse] column, Game Daily invited Yang Dong, technical director of Unity China Platform.
In Yang Dong's view, the development of the metaverse is to allow people to have a better interactive experience, not to show off their skills, raise funds, and brag about stories. The success or failure of the device does not depend on a certain type of equipment or a certain key technical point, but on people. From the perspective of solving human essential needs, the success of the metaverse will be inevitable.
Yang Dong, Unity China Platform Technical Director
This article is a series of articles in the Game Daily [100 People in the Metaverse]. If you are interested in this column and are willing to talk to us about the Metaverse landing products or field focus issues, please contact Xiaoban (GACAwards).
The following is the transcript of the interview after sorting:
1. Is the content important or the technology important?
Game Daily: Some people say that the content of the metaverse is the core, while others say that technology is the key. How do you think about Unity?
Yang Dong: I think these two are actually not contradictory, they are breakthroughs in content plus technology. For example, the Oculus series helmet is lighter than the bulky VR, and it is indeed a breakthrough. But the first thing Oculus does after its release is to build an app store. Therefore, technological breakthroughs and content development are not contradictory, but complement each other.
If there is only technological breakthrough and no corresponding developer ecosystem to make content, no matter how good the hardware device experience is, there may not be many people paying. The experience not only comes from the hardware, but also from the content itself, because we experience the content through hardware, and the two can only develop together to cooperate.
Game Daily: Is there a way to develop the meta universe?
Yang Dong: content is actually the key point in promoting the development of technology.
Take PICO as an example. The reason why they cooperated with Unity and were willing to put their SDKs into our Package Manager is simply because in addition to the hardware development, more content is needed to attract people. Only when developers provide the development things to end users through devices can they truly form the meta universe.
If you only focus on hardware, or make breakthroughs in hardware plus underlying software, it is not enough to make end consumers pay. Therefore, it must be a process of mutual integration.
Game Daily: When breakthrough technology comes out, will the content advantages established by Unity be affected?
Yang Dong: Unity itself is not a tool for developing content, but a tool for developing content. So, we are actually facing developers. Whether it is a commercial developer or an individual developer, the purpose of using Unity is to develop content. It can be said that we have been following the development of equipment, or leading the development of equipment.
For example, Apple 's ARKit and Google 's ARCore's 's ARCore's 's 's ARCore were developed, and we immediately supported it. Before Google and Apple released their technology, we had already integrated the corresponding development tools into the engine. Including the Hololens generation, and even the MRTK tool, we wrote it together with , Microsoft, and .
In fact, we are constantly updating the underlying technology to achieve a benign binding with hardware manufacturers, or iterating each other. Breakthrough technologies will not come out of thin air, but will be integrated, iterated, developed and integrated through existing technologies. In this process, we are the leaders of the underlying technology of content production tools.
2. What is the core of the engine dispute?
Game Daily: In the competition for the meta-universe engine, what are the core advantages of Unity?
Yang Dong: As an engine tool, Unity’s core advantage is to combine new technologies to build a platform for developers and hardware manufacturers. We provide developers with tools with lower barriers to use, so that they can produce more excellent content, thereby providing support to hardware manufacturers. From an ecological perspective, benefiting everyone is a very big advantage.
In terms of technology, Unity has been an engine for more than ten years, and has accumulated a lot of technology, and has not relaxed because it has occupied the largest market share. We have just released the new technology DOTS in the past two days, which is a technology for data programming mode. It allows you to better utilize multi-core and memory performance on existing devices with multi-core CPUs.
We also come with a proprietary compiler (Burst Compiler), whether you are an old machine, a popular machine, or even a future machine. Through this underlying approach, we can all provide better performance on the target platform. So from this point of view, I think Unity is actually leading the production of hardware equipment content, which is the underlying technology advantage.
Game Daily: What products and services do Unity currently use to support the needs of the metaverse?
Yang Dong: For example, we have PiXYZ in architecture, which can be used to reduce the number of faces of the model. Unity Reflect can be used to import models with BIM data in the construction software into the engine for visual programming. If you don’t know how to program but want to do AR, VR, and MR, then there is another product called MARS, which can create XR-related content faster.
In fact, the development of digital twins is also based on the Unity engine, but it may be more used to use some other modules, such as PiXYZ or Unity Reflect software. But no matter how things change, the central point is still the ability of the Unity engine itself, because its ability is to do rendering and interactive logic, including physical modules, etc.
So from the product level, our games and non-game customers are now in different combinations. The products are also promoted in different combinations, but the core is the Unity engine.
Game Daily: Among the cross-field products that Unity has cooperated with, what are the representative cases?
Yang Dong: Non-game crossovers, such as Vancouver Airport, Hong Kong Airport, are all digital twins that crossovers.There are also electric car manufacturers, and most domestic electric car manufacturers are also using Unity to make 3D interactive content on the large screen of the car. Even some film and television animation manufacturers have begun to use Unity. A typical case is the animation drama " Ice and Fire Demon Chef " launched last November, using our latest hair rendering technology.
"Ice and Fire Demon Chef" is an ancient story. In the past, the protagonist's long hair was made of traditional dough technology, but we were developing the rendering technology of silk at that time. We helped them realize the hair effect in cartoons, which is much better than the traditional ones, because this technology can simulate various realistic physical effects.
The software they used to traditional animation was Maya, and the special effect was Houdini. Because Maya is very suitable for model animation, Houdini is very suitable for special effects, but one problem they have is that the rendering speed is very slow and the iteration speed is also very slow. In fact, no one used the early game engines in film and television animations because the rendering quality was not good at that time.
But to the present, after our high-quality rendering and high-definition rendering pipeline HDRP was launched, many customers who used to do animations without engines began to try it. Now they feel that the engine technology has matured to a certain level and can be used in their workflow . This is actually a typical transformation because we can improve their efficiency.
If you are interested in this aspect, you can search for the book "Creating a high-definition 3D Virtual World: Unity Engine HDRP HD Rendering Pipeline Practical Practice". This book is currently the only official HDRP practical manual on the market.
Game Daily: If the direction develops too much, will it affect Unity's own process?
Yang Dong: We will not develop every one, because it is impossible to do everything well. There will be many partners working with us to do this. All we can do is to make the experience better, let more people use the Unity tool, and help users grow, which is the most important thing for us.
Currently, competition is very large in all fields, and technology is developing very rapidly, and there is no technological barrier that cannot be broken. Therefore, Unity welcomes all companies to cooperate and work hard to build an ecosystem. This kind of ecosystem can create a moat for us. If they use Unity very comfortably, there is no reason to replace it with other tools.
Game Daily: On the meta-universe development route, what is the key point for Unity to be in the leading position?
Yang Dong: There is nothing else, how to serve users well is the most important point.
For example, digital twins, car machines, etc. now have new technology needs. If the customer clearly states that the technology is not technically stated, if the engine manufacturer cannot change the architecture, then the customer may choose a competitor because others are willing to change it for him. Our strategy is to serve customers faster and better and solve their pain points.
For example, some people think that Unreal's image quality is better than Unity. Although this statement is incorrect, the market will feel this way. In fact, the engine is just a tool. The most important indicator is that the quality of the picture and whether it can ensure smooth interactivity under high picture quality.
I think this should be a trend in the meta universe. The concentrated emergence of new demands from manufacturers is actually driving our engine forward.
Game Daily: Will it be Unity’s long-term strategy to strengthen itself by acquiring related software?
Yang Dong: If we arrange the companies we acquire, we will find that there is actually a basic logic. Because Unity is essentially a content production tool, from the perspective of tools, you can make up for whatever is missing. The basic logic is to make the engine functions richer and help Unity engine users create better.
3. How to understand the focus topic of the meta-universe?
Game Daily: Why do people rarely talk about the concept of metaverse when they are actually applied to the product field?
Yang Dong: I don’t think it’s important to talk about the meta universe. What’s important is in which direction to develop. Now there is a concept of the metaverse, but you may say that the recognition is not high.
Game Daily: Under the development trend of metacosmic globalization, is there any policy risks in Unity?
Yang Dong: Unity is on the road to becoming a domestic engine. The establishment of the Unity China Joint Venture can better serve domestic users and make our own contribution to domestic industrial development.
Game Daily: Will the metaverse be like VR, with brief highlights and then fall into a slow development situation?
Yang Dong: won’t. The metaverse and VR are two different things, and the metaverse has a bigger plate.
Digital twins are the meta-universe, car computers are the meta-universe, and smart homes are also the meta-universe. Anything essentially the meta-universe can be summarized as the meta-universe. It does not have a relatively single form like VR. When you think of VR, it is the helmet of VR. The metaverse, like the Internet, can solve human essential needs.
What the metaverse cares about is not the success or failure of a certain type of equipment, or the key technical points of a certain type of equipment, but the people. The metaverse can be regarded as an upgraded version of the Internet. Its existence and development are to allow people to have a better interactive experience, rather than to be cool, financing, and bragging about storytelling. Therefore, from the point of essence, the metaverse will succeed.
