Unity Shader Programming: Beginners to Advanced Techniques

Name: Unity Shader Programming: Beginners to Advanced Techniques
Rating: 3.8 (8 reviews)

Master Unity Shader Programming from basics to advanced with our comprehensive course designed for all skill levels!

Created byEDUCBA Bridging the Gap

Last updated 6/2024

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Fundamentals of Unity 5 shader programming.
Creating and customizing shader properties and variables.
Developing various shaders, including textures, water effects, and normal maps.
Implementing lighting models and custom lighting in shaders.
Writing and optimizing shaders for mobile platforms.
Creating and adjusting screen effects for unique visual experiences.
Advanced shader techniques, including CG Inc files and heat maps.
Using the profiler to enhance shader performance.
Applying advanced shader effects like fur and night vision.

Course content

3 sections • 84 lectures • 12h 6m total length

Introduction to Unity 5 Shader Programming6:45
Explore Unity shader programming from basics to advanced techniques, building shaders and post-effects in Unity 5, mastering physically based rendering, global illumination, and diverse effects from textures to screen post-processing.
Theory - Creating A Basic Shader10:23
Explore basic shader creation in Unity, migrate legacy shaders, and apply shader properties to achieve diffuse realism for objects; learn how materials, renderers, and cg shader code drive appearance.
Lab - Creating A Basic Shader10:12
Set up a minimal Unity project, add a plane and two spheres, create a custom standard diffuse shader, and apply it to a material to test lighting and color.
Migrating from Unity4 to Unity 5 Shaers6:56
Migrate from Unity 4 to Unity 5 by automatic upgrade or switching to the standard shader, backing up the entire project folder to preserve metadata and legacy shaders.
Migrating from Unity4 to Unity 5 Shaers Continues5:33
Migrate from Unity 4 to Unity 5 by converting legacy shaders to the standard shader, explore rendering modes such as transparent, cutout, and vertex lit, and note light intensity changes.
Understanding Shader Properties12:02
Learn how to define and expose shader properties in Unity using the properties block, creating GUI elements for colors, textures, sliders, and other types that drive material appearance.
Create Properties6:35
Wire properties to a surface shader in Unity shader programming, exposing ambient color and a slider value from the materials inspector to drive albedo and alpha via pow.
Create Subshader Variable6:21
Declare subshader variables that mirror properties from the properties block, link them to ambient color and color values via the materials inspector, and apply the slider value in the subshader.
Using Packed Arrays11:25
Explore texture mapping and surface shaders, mastering diffuse shading, packed arrays, and how to add, scroll, and blend textures using UVs, normal mapping, and transparency.
Use Albedo Color7:43
Explore packed arrays in CG shaders, using color as a four-component factory with RGB and A aliases. Apply swizzling, smearing, and _mrc matrix access to albedo colors.
Creating A Scrolling Texture9:43
Apply textures to a Unity shader using UV mapping and 2D texture sampling; explore bilinear, trilinear, and anisotropic filtering, and implement scrolling textures for waterfalls and lava.
Water Effect Shader11:05
Learn to build a water effect shader by creating a standard surface shader, setting a main texture and diffuse tint, and animating UVs with scroll speeds.
Creating A Normal Map Shader8:26
Learn how normal maps replace per-vertex normals to fake smooth lighting on low-poly models, using Unity surface shaders and a normal map texture for realistic shading.
Normal Map Test Shader10:45
Create and customize a normal map shader in Unity by defining a custom shader, adding a normal map texture, unpacking normal data, and applying them to per-pixel lighting.
Bump Intensity10:09
Explore implementing bump and normal maps in Unity shaders, adjusting bump intensity, normal intensity, glossiness, and metallic properties to illuminate a realistic albedo texture.
Creating A Transparent Shader10:20
Explore creating a transparent shader in Unity, handling alpha blending, z-order, and render queues to render glass-like and other transparent materials with a texture's alpha channel.
Creating a Holographic Shader6:33
Design a holographic shader that renders semi-transparent outlines of objects with noise, scan lines, and vibrations, using a lambertian reflectance model and alpha fade in Unity.
Silhouette Shader6:22
Create a silhouette shader in Unity that uses the dot product of view direction and world normal to form a rim-lit holographic edge, controlled by alpha and rim strength.
Blending Textures Using Lerp9:44
Learn how to pack grayscale textures into the rgba channels of a single texture and blend multiple textures for terrain shading in a memory-efficient shader.
Blending Textures Using Lerp Continues10:07
Blend four terrain textures in a Unity shader using a blend texture and tiling data with the lerp function. Multiply final color by terrain tint colors and assign to albedo.
Drawing Circle in Terrain9:58
Learn to draw a circle around a unit on terrain in Unity using a custom radius shader, centering it and handling arbitrary terrain geometry with animation.
Mat Radius10:50
Learn to render a circle around a character by adjusting radius, center, and color in a Unity shader, using world coordinates, and a simple C# script.
Lighting Models5:26
Explore how lighting models drive pixel shade in Unity shaders, from Lambertian to Phong, and build custom diffuse and specular shaders for mobile-friendly rendering.
Writing the First Custom Lighting9:34
Write a simple lambertian lighting shader in Unity by sampling a texture with uv, applying n dot l lighting, and implementing a custom lighting function.
Writing Toon Shader6:38
Create a toon shader in Unity with a custom lighting model and ramp texture, using clamp and point sampling to achieve sharp cel shading on 3D models.
Writing Toon Shader Continues7:40
Develop a toon shader in Unity using a ramp map to remap n dot l for stepped shading, or snap values for cell shading, with a cell shading level property.
Writing Phong Shader9:18
Learn how to implement a Phong specular shader in Unity, comparing per-vertex and per-pixel techniques, and understand how view direction shapes specular highlights.
Phong Secular Shader7:18
Implement a custom Phong lighting model in a Unity surface shader by defining a Phong lighting function, using hash pragma, and balancing diffuse and specular with a reflection vector.
Writing Blinn Phong Shader8:29
Learn to implement a Blinn-Phong specular shader in Unity using the half-vector for efficient lighting, and to control diffuse and specular properties via a custom shader.
Blinn Phong Shader â€“ Half Vector4:39
Explore Blinn-phong shading by using the half vector of light and view directions to compute a specular highlight, offering a lighter, more efficient alternative to Phong.
Writing Anisotropic Specular Shader9:50
learn to create an anisotropic specular shader in unity to simulate brushed metal by stretching highlights perpendicular to groove direction, enabling stressed reflections and hair-like effects.
Writing Anisotropic Specular Shader Continues10:01
Implement anisotropic specular lighting in a Unity surface shader using a custom lighting function and anisotropic normal maps to create directional brushed-metal highlights.
GI And Light Baking9:52
Explore physically based rendering in Unity 5, from standard lighting models and metallic versus specular workflows to global illumination and light baking, including real-time shading trade-offs.
More on GI And Light Baking7:25
Explore transparency in PBR shaders with three modes—semi-transparent, fade, and cut out—using alpha or albedo maps, and build real-time mirrors with global illumination.
Creating Reflection Probe9:41
Create reflection probes to generate real-time or baked cube maps for reflections, using skyboxes and six-face textures, and bake reflections for static objects.
Light Probe Groups5:11
Explore how light probe groups enclose a volume to interpolate global illumination for moving objects, blending probes with skybox and light maps, and baking lights in Unity.

Introduction to Vertex Function10:39
Explore vertex functions in Unity surface shaders to manipulate geometry by accessing vertex data, coloring, and animating vertices, including setting up a vertex function and preparing for DirectX 11.
Animating Vertices10:07
Modify vertex positions with a sine wave using a vertex function to animate meshes, enabling dynamic effects like flags or ocean waves in Unity shader programming.
Animating Vertices Continues2:52
Animate vertices in Unity shaders using a sine wave to displace positions and modify normals, tuning wave speed, frequency, amplitude, tint, tiling, and colors for dynamic flag-like surfaces.
Extruding Vertices8:16
Use normal extrusion to alter geometry by moving vertices along normals with a shader. Expose extrusion amount from -1 to 1 via a vertex modifier and test on a bunny.
Extrusion Shader5:12
Learn to build an extrusion shader in Unity by writing a C# extruder script, swapping materials, and using an extrusion texture to control vertex displacement.
Creating Snow Shader8:10
Explore a shader-based snow effect in Unity by turning snow white on sky-facing triangles and extruding vertices to simulate accumulation, providing a non-photorealistic starting point.
Creating Snow Shader Continues8:28
Develop a two-step Unity snow shader that colors sky-facing triangles and extrudes snow to simulate accumulation, using the dot product of snow direction and world normals.
Volumetric Explosions12:02
Master volumetric explosions in Unity by replacing particle effects with evolving volumes, using a two-part shader: vertex deformation and surface coloring with ramp and noise textures.
Volumetric Explosions - SG Program10:14
Learn volumetric explosions in Unity shader programming by deforming a sphere with time and noise, sampling ramp and noise textures, and using ramp offset and clip range for control.
First Fragment Shader8:20
Develop vertex and fragment shaders with graph pass in Unity, build a simple base shader for a texture and color, and explore a glass shader for 2D games.
First Fragment Shader Continues9:31
Learn how vertex and fragment shaders in Unity take a model through a vertex function to a fragment function, using the MVP matrix and textures to drive pixel color.
Use of Grab Pass Shader9:10
Learn to implement grab pass shaders in Unity to access the drawn frame for transparent effects. Build a grab pass shader and test it with a cube behind a quad.
How Grab Pass Shader Works2:11
Learn how grab passes drive a two-pass Unity shader, using a grab pass and fragment pass to sample the grab texture via the screen pose.
Writing a Glass Shader9:47
Learn to implement a glass shader with a graph pass texture, sharing a single grab pass across materials, and create distortion using a vertex and fragment shader sampling the texture.
Glass Stained Normals7:43
Build a glass shader in Unity by combining bump maps and normal maps with a graph pass to distort the rendered texture, adjustable via a magnitude parameter and transparent rendering.
Writing 2D Water Shader10:00
Write a 2D water shader in Unity by adapting a vertex and fragment shader with a Graph Pass technique, introducing noise texture, period, magnitude, and scale for animated water.
More 2D Water Shader10:51
Explore how to create animated 2d water with time-based distortion using a sine wave, a noise texture, and world-space sampling to produce seamless, random waves.
Shader Adjustment10:11
Optimize Unity shaders for mobile by learning cheap shaders, built-in variables, half vectors, and profiling; implement diffuse textures, normal maps, and a custom Lambert lighting function to maintain visuals.
Optimizing the Shader9:43
Master shader optimization by using half and fixed types, sharing UVs, and removing unnecessary inputs. Learn to manage lights with forward rendering rules to boost performance.
Using the Profiler7:02
Learn to use the Unity profiler to isolate shaders and rendering, analyze CPU and GPU usage, and track draw calls and frame spikes in busy scenes.
Using the Profiler Continues6:54
Profile and optimize Unity shaders using the profiler to observe draw calls and gpu rendering. Learn mobile profiling to test performance on devices and reduce bottlenecks in textures and lighting.
Writing a Mobile Shader9:07
Discover how to write a mobile friendly, high quality normal mapped specular shader for a mobile game by optimizing textures, using half view lighting, and enabling texture compression.
Optimize Shaders4:20
Optimize Unity shaders by excluding deferred lighting and no forward add declaration, enabling per-pixel lighting with a single directional light while other lights are per-vertex, using half vector for specular.
Introduction to Screen Effects7:28
Learn to build real-time screen effects in Unity with render textures, a script-driven post-processing system, and shader-based per-pixel operations for brightness, saturation, and color correction.
Custom Shader Image Effects9:16
Create a custom image effect with a grayscale shader, applied via on render image using a luminosity amount from 0 to 1, and disable if image effects are unsupported.
Changing the Screen Effects5:50
Explore creating and testing a grayscale screen effect in Unity by capturing the main camera's render texture, passing it to a shader, and applying per-pixel luminosity-based color transformation.
Depth Effect10:18
Learn to harness Unity's depth mode to access camera depth textures and create a scene depth effect shader that uses a depth power parameter to control depth-based visuals.
Brightness Saturation7:12
Explore pixel operations to apply brightness, saturation, and contrast for global color control in games. Implement image effects and shaders in Unity to achieve cohesive screen adjustments.
Contrast7:52
Edit the shader to expose brightness, saturation, and contrast properties, connect them to the cg program, and implement a brightness-saturation-contrast pipeline on render textures for screen effects.
Contrast Continues9:35
Explore Unity shader programming to build post-processing image effects that adjust brightness, saturation, and contrast using a shader with dot-product luminance and editor-driven parameters.
Blend Modes9:44
Apply blend modes to merge a texture with a render texture using Unity shaders and image effects, including multiply, add, and overlay, for the production environment.
Blend Mode Image Effect9:45
Implement a Unity shader based blend mode image effect with a blend texture and adjustable opacity. Explore multiply, add, screen, and overlay blends to reproduce Photoshop layer blending in games.
Overlay Image Effect9:03
Apply an overlay image effect in Unity by implementing a per-channel overlay blend mode shader, wiring shader properties, and a C# script to feed render textures and opacity.
Old Film Effect8:23
Create an old movie screen effect in Unity by layering sepia tone, vignette, and dust and scratches, and hook textures to gameplay events for cinematic mood shifts.
More on Old Film Effect9:29
Build an old film shader effect in Unity by scripting a C# script and a surface shader, wiring sepia color, vignette, and textures for scratches, dust, and wig net.
Old Film Effect Shader11:41
Develop an old film effect shader in Unity, wiring script and shader variables for real-time texture processing. Implement vignette, scratches, dust, sepia, and contrast in the fragment program.
Effect Final Color7:14
Create a film shader that blends dust and scratches with a sepia color using luminance from a render texture. Apply a vignette and final color composition to complete the effect.
Old Film Effect Explained5:58
Discover how a Unity shader recreates an old film look by animating UVs for flicker, applying scratches, dust, and vignette, and tinting via grayscale luminance and YIQ.
Night Vision Effect9:29
Create a night vision screen effect in Unity by layering a green tint, scan lines, noise, and vignette textures, controlled by a custom shader and script.
More on Night Vision Effect11:40
Learn to implement a night vision screen effect in Unity by wiring a shader with contrast, brightness, color, scanlines, and noise textures.
Blend Effect11:32
Create a night vision blend shader in Unity, combining barrel distortion, scan lines, and noise with brightness, contrast, and vignette adjustments for the final look.
Night Version Effect Shader4:48
Explore the night version shader, a modular post-processing effect using lens and barrel distortion, overlays, tiling, and a heat map with replace shaders.

Creating Custom CG Inc Files11:20
Explore advanced shading techniques in Unity by leveraging built-in CG include files to create modular shaders, including a simple fur shader and heat maps using arrays.
CG Include Shader10:18
Learn how to create and use custom CG include files in Unity to modularize shading code, define custom lighting models like half Lambert, and reuse across surface shaders.
Creating Fur8:18
Create a multi-pass fur shader in Unity using a fur texture and a distribution mask, apply thresholding and Perlin noise for variation, and organize code with a CG include.
More on Creating Fur11:45
learn how to create a fur shader using the shell technique, applying gravity, alpha-based length, and multiple passes to simulate layered hair while considering performance and wind tweaks.
Creating Heat Map11:17
Learn to create a heat map by passing point arrays to a shader and overlaying it on a real map texture.
More on Creating Heat Map7:42
Create a heat map shader in Unity by integrating a ramp texture, using point arrays with radii and intensities, and applying it to a material.

Requirements

Basic understanding of Unity and its interface. Familiarity with basic programming concepts. Access to Unity 5 or later versions. Willingness to experiment and practice with shader programming. Basic knowledge of C# programming is beneficial but not mandatory.

Description

Course Introduction: Welcome to the "Comprehensive Unity Shader Programming: From Beginners to Advanced Techniques" course! This course is designed to equip you with the essential skills and knowledge needed to master shader programming in Unity. Whether you're just starting or looking to enhance your existing skills, this course will take you through a structured learning journey from the fundamentals to advanced shader techniques. You'll learn how to create stunning visual effects, optimize performance, and implement complex shaders using Unity's ShaderLab and CG programming. Get ready to dive into the exciting world of shader development and unleash your creativity in game and application development!

Section 1: Unity Shader Programming - Beginners

In this beginner's section of Unity Shader Programming, students are introduced to the fundamentals of shader programming in Unity 5. The journey starts with an overview of shader programming, highlighting the differences between Unity4 and Unity5 shaders. Students then delve into creating basic shaders through both theoretical and practical labs, gaining hands-on experience in shader development. Essential shader properties and variables are explored, including subshader variables and packed arrays, enabling students to customize shader behaviors. The section covers creating various types of shaders, such as scrolling textures, water effects, normal maps, and transparent shaders, providing a comprehensive understanding of shader functionalities. Advanced techniques like blending textures using Lerp, drawing circles in terrain, and implementing lighting models are also discussed. Students will write custom lighting, toon shaders, Phong shaders, Blinn Phong shaders, and anisotropic specular shaders. The section concludes with an introduction to global illumination (GI) and light baking, reflection probes, and light probe groups, equipping students with the foundational knowledge required for more advanced shader programming.

Section 2: Unity Shader Programming - Intermediate

Building on the basics, the intermediate section delves into more complex aspects of Unity shader programming. Students begin by learning about vertex functions and the animation of vertices, followed by extrusion shaders and creating unique effects like snow shaders and volumetric explosions. The curriculum covers the creation of fragment shaders, including the use of Grab Pass shaders for effects like glass and stained glass normals. Further, students explore writing and optimizing shaders for mobile platforms, utilizing the profiler to enhance performance. The section also introduces screen effects, custom shader image effects, and various visual adjustments such as depth effect, brightness, saturation, contrast, and blend modes. Unique effects like old film and night vision are explored in detail, providing students with the skills to create visually captivating shaders.

Section 3: Unity Shader Programming - Advanced

In the advanced section, students tackle the creation of custom CG Inc files and CG include shaders, enabling more efficient and reusable shader code. Advanced shader techniques such as creating fur and heat maps are covered, along with their practical applications and further exploration. This section equips students with the ability to develop highly complex and performance-optimized shaders for professional use. By the end of this section, students will have a comprehensive understanding of advanced shader programming concepts, preparing them for sophisticated shader development projects in Unity.

Course Conclusion: Congratulations on completing the "Comprehensive Unity Shader Programming: From Beginners to Advanced Techniques" course! Throughout this journey, you've gained a deep understanding of shader programming in Unity, starting from basic shader creation to advanced topics like custom lighting models, screen effects, and shader optimization. Armed with these skills, you're now equipped to create visually compelling games and applications, optimize shader performance, and experiment with cutting-edge shader techniques. Keep exploring, experimenting, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible with shaders in Unity. Happy shader programming!

Who this course is for:

Aspiring Game Developers: Individuals aiming to enhance their game development skills with shader programming.
Graphic Artists: Artists looking to incorporate advanced visual effects into their Unity projects.
Experienced Developers: Developers wanting to deepen their knowledge of shader programming and optimization.
Students and Educators: Those in academic settings who want to learn or teach advanced Unity shader techniques.
Technical Artists: Professionals who bridge the gap between programming and visual art in game development.
Hobbyists and Enthusiasts: Anyone with a passion for game development and visual effects who wants to explore the capabilities of Unity shaders.
Freelancers: Freelancers looking to offer advanced shader programming services to clients.
Professionals in Related Fields: Professionals in animation, VFX, and related fields who want to incorporate Unity shaders into their work.
Indie Game Developers: Independent developers seeking to add polished visual effects to their games.
Career Changers: Individuals transitioning into game development or technical art roles who need comprehensive training in shader programming.

Unity Shader Programming: Beginners to Advanced Techniques

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Unity Shader Programming - Beginners36 lectures • 5hr 9min

Unity Shader Programming - Intermediate42 lectures • 5hr 57min

Unity Shader Programming - Advanced6 lectures • 1hr 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: