I'm comfortable with both C++ and C# and have used both Unreal Engine and Unity a little bit without issue. Unfortunately I have not developed any large, high performance applications in either engines to really know how they comparably perform at scale.
ML support for Unreal Engine seems less mature given you have to build the engine from source to support the ML2. The Unity setup seems a lot more complete and integrated using Magic Leap Hub.
I want to develop some real-time applications using remote rendering, voice processing and some level of ML integration. Given the performance requirements, it seems the UE and C++ is the better choice.
Has anyone done this comparison or switched between Unity and UE? What was your experience with both engines? What about dynamic loading of datasets that are not highly baked game files (i.e. simulation datasets generated by other tools)? Is it a safe bet to invest in UE for a new product? (I.e. is ML intending to support it long term or is it a second-class citizen so to speak?)
Thank you for reaching out and welcome back to the Magic Leap Forums!
Admittedly, the Unreal Engine setup is a little more in depth than the Unity setup for ML2, but I assure you that both are being fully supported and will continue to be supported.
Personally I would go with Unreal Engine for a project like this mainly because
Magic Leap only supports Remote Rendering with Unreal Engine 5.
Please note that it also requires an NVIDIA graphics card and a Windows OS on the host machine. Here's some resources for more information.
I also agree that considering the performance requirements of such a project, Unreal Engine may also be the better choice in that department.
Choosing an engine is typically dependent on the project requirements but both Unity and Unreal Engine are great for developing on the ML2 in my experience. The main difference being the workflow of each engine.
Again, if Remote Rendering is a requirement for this project, then you will want to use Unreal Engine since Remote Rendering is not supported in Unity.
You are safe if you invest in Unreal Engine development as Magic Leap is continuing to support it and our support will only get better as we continue with new releases! So please keep an eye out for any new updates from us!