Speech portrait flashes between dialogue lines...

Technocrat

I've found that, roughly 50% of the time, the dialogue UI will fade, then return between lines of speech made by the same character. I've adjusted the fade settings (linear, smooth, length of time, etc), but the closest I've managed to get is this fifty-percent ratio. Ideally, I'd like the subtitle UI to remain visible until talking is done, but have not been able to accomplish this yet. 

With the fade completely turned off, the whole UI just flashes out and returns, again roughly half of the time. The amount of time the fade between lines lasts doesn't appear to bear a relation to the fade time set in the Menus tab - I put it up to about a second for a test, and while the initial fades in and out were affected, the little one between lines remained short but noticeable.

In this video, there are three lines (two from the character, one from a "display" box"). In the first two run-throughs of the speech, the flash appears, but the third remains consistently visible the whole way through. Apologies in advance for the music, Fraps apparently picked up on what I was listening to!

Summary - am I missing something to stop the subtitle UI disappearing between lines of speech? And why does it only happen some of the time?

ChrisIceBox

The fade time won't affect the time at which a new line will play - that is, the Speech Action won't wait for the Subtitle Menu's fading before playing a new line.

The erratic behaviour could be a Unity update issue, with Time.deltaTime and Unity UI rendering times both playing a factor.  Have you tried it with an AC-based Menu?  (Not that that would be the solution, but it's important to know if this is strictly a UI issue)

One thing you could try is to check Duplicate for each line? in the Menu's properties.  This will create a new instance of your UI per-line, as opposed to recycling the same one for all.

Technocrat

Duplicate for each line? lends to the consistency, but unfortunately it ensures that the mini-fade appears 100% of the time.

I've had a go with an AC-based menu, and unfortunately it's giving me the same results (along with the Duplicate test).

Would I be correct that the reason it appears to be a little fade between lines is that the UI is fading out, but the fade-in from the next line is cancelling it out a bit?

I've managed to cobble up a work-around using the animated transitions. With OffInstant having the portrait visible but not the text area; the text background disappears for each line change, but the portrait sticks around, retaining the kind of consistency I'm looking for. Ideally I'd like to be able to keep the text background from fading as well, but if that's not doable within the machinery of unity due to the way that Time.deltaTime works, I can work with it this way.

ChrisIceBox

Would I be correct that the reason it appears to be a little fade
between lines is that the UI is fading out, but the fade-in from the
next line is cancelling it out a bit?

Partially - that's not the case when using the duplication option, but it's along those lines when not.

Using animated transitions should indeed help - though I'd prefer that not to be required for something so fundamental.  I shall see what other options there are.

ChrisIceBox

Actually, I think this one's on me - it seems to be related to the speech update code, rather than anything UI-related.  Please leave it with me and I'll see what can be done.

Technocrat

Many thanks!