Unity Input System Demystified: 3 Easy Workflows You Need to Know

[@git-amend]

Happy Sunday! I hope this video clears up any confusion about Unity's Input System-let me know your favorite workflow or if you have any questions below!

[@cryostorage1578]

I've been working with the input system for a while now and never actually bothered to read past the wall of config to get to those interfaces lmao. Very informative, thanks!

[@git-amend]

Awesome, glad to hear that!

[@jagobian]

Amazing video as always! Would love to see a follow-up video on displaying input actions using the UI Toolkit and reacting to input device changes to update the bounded input actions.

[@git-amend]

Great suggestion!

[@fleity]

I agree that this would be very useful. The input visualizer from the samples is nice, but having a nice and styled UI which shows the user the current inputs has proven incredibly useful in our current project (for the users themselves and the devs debugging, we show it on-screen during video captures of playtests to get an idea of what the user did)

[@sima19995]

Using a Scriptable Object for the Input Reader is genius! Never would've thought of that!

[@git-amend]

Great, hope that tip proves useful!

[@davearvelo]

This is great! After watching several other tutorials, only one mentioned the C# class, but your video offers a lot more depth and gave me a much better understanding. Thanks for all the insights!

[@git-amend]

Awesome, thank you!

[@정동우-n2x]

I didn't know there was a way to make things like this. It's really amazing. Personally, I wish your Unity tutorials could be published as a book. Something like "Unity for Advanced Users." I study a lot with official Unity projects, but teacher(your) projects are always a step above.

[@git-amend]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@정동우-n2x]

@@git-amend I also hope to one day develop my own code rather than just cloning teacher's code, but it's really challenging. Thank you for your great tutorials as always. However, what I want to ask is, I don't quite understand why "use Isolated Input Action" needs to exist. I don't understand why it has to be "only responding."

[@Dan-i2q7l]

I've been using the Scriptable Object approach ever since I saw Unity's Scriptable Object Architecture video. I'm a university student, and have only been using Unity since October, I really enjoy your videos (although sometimes they're a little complex for me)!

[@git-amend]

Thanks, and glad to hear it. We're going to have a video on SOAP coming up in a few weeks!

[@Q.Roo_0]

I planned to just watch this video for my own entertainment without expecting to learn anything new but I ended up learning about a c# feature I did not know of at 2:50.

[@git-amend]

Nice, which feature was that?

[@CollinPatrick]

There is also another workflow that allows you to subscribe directly to the individual input action assets. It's like the Interface/SO approach, but on a per-action basis.

[@silchasruin4487]

Glad to see the channel growing! The Input system has always been a chore and a source of frustration for me. Especially when updated features will randomly break your workflow and cause bugs. This is great as a source for a tighter more streamlined work process to navigate. Thanks a ton for this!

[@git-amend]

Thank you and you're welcome!

[@prometheus1100]

Great video! Definitely will check out those interfaces. I'm currently using your Event Bus to raise input events on a singleton InputManager. Using the interfaces to generate those methods will save some time wiring things up, thanks!

[@git-amend]

Fantastic!

[@suntonio7187]

Awesome! I didnt look into it too much because I always felt the prototyping is easier with the "old" system. Glad I can somehow use the "better"/"newer" system without the hassle and overload it seemed to imply. Direct reading FTW ^^

[@git-amend]

Yeah, the direct read is very convenient for that!

[@midniteoilsoftware]

Very good overview. I like the way you abstracted the input allowing consumers to either subscribe to events that you forwarded on or properties. I actually got into a bit of a flame war following that very pattern in my Joust tutorial. Their primary hangup was that we basically have "a subscription within a subscription". i.e. you have a middle-man that's receiving the events from the input system forwarding those with events of its own. I actually made a follow-up video on abstracting user input explaining why that's a good thing.

[@git-amend]

A little abstraction never hurt anyone. I'm often surprised at how many game developers shy away from it, and from patterns like Facade.

[@fleity]

Very very nice. Input reader as SO is hot. - I'd like to add that the samples for the input package are super useful, i.e. there is button remapping already in there.

[@git-amend]

Yes, I agree with that - all the samples are very helpful!

[@nwsl-7i]

Thanks for the great videos as always. from south korea.

[@git-amend]

Thanks for watching!

[@GlasTaibhse]

solid tutorial! I've been using the scriptable object approach for a while and it's great if you want separate maps for different Input States (like on foot, in a vehicle, etc or KBM vs Controller). really helps only sending input data to only the current object you're controlling. Also I just got Rider after watching your vids the past few months, I am absolutely loving it and it's a huge upgrade from VS 2022, especially with hlsl cus it actually formats properly instead of being a jumbled mess in VS

[@git-amend]

Thanks for the comment! Rider is awesome, I'm really glad you enjoy it! I should have mentioned the shader support in my vid!

[@michaelwilson8461]

Thanks for the work you put in on these videos, some really helpful insights. I started using Unity just a short time before the Input system was released (or maybe just before I became aware of it?) anyway... I definitely am not a fan of change myself, so I understand the reservations people have about moving from one method of doing things to another, especially if you have a lot of experience with the current way of doing things. However I do find the new system to be pretty intuitive (after an initial learning curve) , I find it to be easier for me when it comes to supporting multiple input devices , just seems a little cleaner over all IMO.

[@git-amend]

You're welcome, and I agree 💯

[@rutchjohnson]

Happy Sunday! Thanks for the vid

[@git-amend]

Same to you!

[@TheMystogrigen]

I create my own input reader. I create a ScriptableObject that I can store input action references in. I then throw that ScriptableObject into a custom input reader with some public methods that check the references when called. And finally I can check that input reader for inputs like the old input system. I keep swearing that I will swap over to the event version, but I'm lazy, and this works.

[@git-amend]

Interesting approach, and not too different from the 3rd workflow. I often prefer polling over events, especially for things like movement.

[@ahmedmohammedfahmy5093]

Great one as always 🎉 Would u consider doing some XR stuff in the future?

[@git-amend]

Thank you! Might do some XR down the road, might be a good excuse to break out my HTC Vive again... or upgrade.

[@vSwaize]

Great Video!

[@git-amend]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

[@hop3studio511]

Haven't watched yet, but i can tell this is what i need, thanks

[@git-amend]

Awesome!

[@dragonsnackproductions]

I have 5 characters with separate inputs. This will come in handy and your previous video as I get some input calls after new scene load with newest 2022.3 LTS. Is say I should Dispose()...preety sure after creating new inputs I disable them in OnDisable. So yeah... have to search for a solution ;) Happy Sunday thank you!

[@git-amend]

Interesting. Maybe take a look at the Unity 'Warriors' sample project. It's a few years old, but it was a demo for handling 5 different inputs at the same time. github.com/UnityTechnologies/InputSystem_Warriors

[@dragonsnackproductions]

@git-amend thank you so much! Will do!

[@Athomield3D]

Never been this early lol. Also I never found a reason to use the new Input System but maybe this tutorial will serve as good introduction. Thanks !

[@git-amend]

Nice work! I hope you try it out! A little more complex, but hopefully this video makes it easy!

[@dragonsnackproductions]

Happy Sunday! I have to go back to one of your videos on how to close/disolve supposedly non active input calls. Or ...I'll watch the video for answers here now ❤

[@guillem99]

Nice video! The only disadvantage I see with this approach is not being able to access the InputReader from non-MonoBehaviour scripts.

[@git-amend]

That's true. If necessary, you might want to just implement the interfaces as pure C# classes and serve them up from a Service Locator or DI, which would also be convenient.

[@damonfedorick]

Nice!

[@git-amend]

Thanks!

[@jackieczech1777]

As always, great video! Thanks a lot Adam! In my case I just don't know if it's ok to set the input package to Process Events in fixed update, then I have consistent input (50Hz) and synchronization with physical simulations for controlling the player via Rigidbody2D (with Interpolation). Is it okay, or can there ever be a problem with that? In my case everything works very smooth and properly. But, you always read input in update and transfer logic of physical movement into fixed update with Rigidbody, far as I saw in your videos? :)

[@git-amend]

You're welcome. Your approach is very interesting, I've never seen anyone do that before so I don't have a solid answer for you. I tend to store the value in Update because I'm often using it in other systems and not just for moving the character. For example, I set my blend value for the characters locomotion animation based on the movement input. So, I think the answer to your question is probably 'it depends'... or maybe 'if it works, it works!' Very interesting scenario.

[@SmittyBandoleros]

Great Video! i want to ask where do you call the EnablePlayerActions? and i have a problem where i need to enable domain reload for it to receive input when you run it for the second time, do you have a solution for this? thank you!

[@git-amend]

Thank you. I usually enable the actions from my player controller in the Start method. As for your second question, I don't think I've ever experienced that issue, so maybe another subscriber has some advice or maybe it's a question for the Unity forum. Or Discord.

[@christopher6886]

Which workflow do you tend to use and why do you prefer it over the other options?

[@git-amend]

I prefer the 3rd option with the Scriptable Object as it gives the most flexibility and is scene independent.

[@ladylexxieblack]

You are by far my favorite channel on KZbin when it comes to coding. You and Sebastian Lague are the best

[@git-amend]

Wow, thanks! That is too kind!

[@jake-ly]

I love the new input system for its flexibility, but they really messed something up in Unity 6. For some reason inputs just stop working and require an editor restart every couple hours.

[@git-amend]

Interesting, I have not experienced this myself (not yet at least)