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Essential 2D shaders for every game! Customize them to fit your needs, control them from your own scripts, or expand them with your own custom effects.
Render pipeline compatibility
The Built-in Render Pipeline is Unity’s default render pipeline. It is a general-purpose render pipeline that has limited options for customization. The Universal Render Pipeline (URP) is a Scriptable Render Pipeline that is quick and easy to customize, and lets you create optimized graphics across a wide range of platforms. The High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) is a Scriptable Render Pipeline that lets you create cutting-edge, high-fidelity graphics on high-end platforms.
Unity VersionBuilt-inURPHDRP
6000.0.23f1
Compatible
Compatible
Not compatible
2023.1.0f1
Compatible
Compatible
Not compatible
2022.2.0f1
Compatible
Compatible
Not compatible
2022.1.0f1
Compatible
Compatible
Not compatible
2021.3.0f1
Compatible
Compatible
Not compatible
Additional compatibility information

In case you are using the Built-In Renderer, use folder "Built-In Renderer". In case you are using URP, there are 2 options - folder "2D Renderer" for URP's 2D Renderer (default renderer when creating a project using the URP 2D Template), and folder "Universal Renderer" for URP's Universal Renderer (default renderer when creating a project using the URP 3D Template).

Description

IMPORTANT! This asset requires the Shader Graph package for the shaders to work.

The Shader Graph package already comes bundled with most Unity versions and rendering pipelines, but it can also be imported into your project from the Package Manager window inside the Unity Editor.


NOTE: For ease of use, all shaders are created in a way that allows the user to control the effects using a single exposed float value (a controller value) from outside scripts. This also means the shaders are time-insensitive, but requires manual setup if a looping effect is desired. The scripts contained in the package demonstrate how both looping and non-looping effects can be dynamically controlled by the package's user.



1. Fullscreen Pulse Effect/Fullscreen Shader


A fullscreen pulse-wave effect with customizable center point (i.e. pulse origin on the screen), speed, colour and wave edge thickness. There is an additional (optional) distortion effect, whose strength is also fully customizable. Finally, if desired by the user, a second controller value can be used to smoothly fade out/fade in the screen during the pulse.


This asset can also be used as a stepping stone for creating your own fullscreen shader effects in Shader Graph (a script allowing custom renderer features and a fully set up Forward Renderer Asset – both necessary for fullscreen shaders – are provided in the pack).

A PDF document providing step-by-step instructions on how to set up this shader is provided in the pack.



2. Dual Emission Shader


A reconstructed Lit shader that supports dual emission, allowing you to have two different emission maps with two different emission colours and intensities. Additonally, a "extra intensity" controller is added to each of the emissions, enabling you to indefinitely increase each emission's strength, whereas the regular HDR colour input only allows intensities between -10 and +10.



3. Directional Dissolve Shader


This lit shader allows you to create a surface dissolve effect (e.g. for dying enemies) that moves in a predefined direction instead of simultaneously dissolving everywhere on the surface. The direction is defined by a black-white gradient texture (easily made with Photoshop's Gradient tool, or other image editing programs). 4 such gradient "noise" textures – horizontal, vertical, irregular and circular gradient – are included in the pack.


Additionally, the dissolve effect has fully customizable thickness, emission and speed.



4. Vertex Displacement Shader


A lit vertex-manipulation shader that creates irregular vibrations and distortions on the object's surface. The effect's strength is fully customizable.



5. Image Highlight Shader


This shader allows you to highlight images (originally intended for text that is written outside of Unity and then exported as an image) by gradually moving an emissive wave along their surface. The wave's emission, sharpness (strength), thickness and speed are fully customizable. Use this shader to highlight any elements in the Canvas, as well as to add emission to your UI elements.



6. Lava Shader


A lit lava shader with customizable emission, movement speed and distortion. The shader uses a texture, allowing you to customize the effect for any liquid. A sample lava texture (including height/displacement, normal and specular/metallic maps), as well as a set up 2D sprite shape profile for the lava (NOTE: 2D Sprite Shape package is required, it can be imported from the Package Manager), are provided in the pack.



BONUS: The Shader Graph Subgraph asset included in this pack is a reconstructed standard lit shader. As such, it can be imported into your custom Shader Graph shaders, allowing you to both create custom shader effects and keep the standard shader options such as normal maps, emission, etc.



For further information, visit the asset's page on our website: https://www.project-gamedev.com/essential-2d-lit-shaders.html

For further technical details, visit the asset's documentation page: https://docs.project-gamedev.com/essential-2d-lit-shaders/essential-2d-lit-shaders.html



NOTE: In case you are using the Built-In Renderer, use folder "Built-In Renderer". In case you are using URP, there are 2 options - folder "2D Renderer" for URP's 2D Renderer (default renderer when creating a project using the URP 2D Template), and folder "Universal Renderer" for URP's Universal Renderer (default renderer when creating a project using the URP 3D Template).

Technical details

Package contents:

  • 6 Shader Graph assets + 1 Shader Graph Subgraph asset (used in most of the other shaders);
  • 6 C# scripts that demonstrate the aforementioned shaders' effects and show how they can be controlled via code;
  • One more C# script that enables fullscreen shaders;
  • Lava textures (albedo, height/displacement, normal and specular/metallic maps) for use with the lava shader;
  • 4 noise textures (created with a horizontal, vertical, irregular and circular black-white gradient) for use with the directional dissolve shader;
  • Custom circular figure (including normal, specular/metallic and 2 emission maps) used for demonstrating the effects in the demo scene;
  • Text image for use with the unlit text image highlight shader;
  • Fully set up Forward Renderer asset that demonstrates the necessary setup for a fullscreen shader (in this case, the fullscreen pulse shader);
  • 15 materials with different shader settings that demonstrate a variety of visual effects;
  • A post-processing profile for the demo scene;
  • A sample 2D sprite shape profile for the lava.
  • 6 PDF documents.

The entirety of the package is ready to use out-of-the-box, with the exception of the fullscreen shader, which requires special forward renderer asset settings. An example forward renderer asset is included in order to show what those settings are, trivialising the required setup.

Created with AI

DeepL Translator was used to provide accurate translation to Chinese, Korean, and Japanese for localization of the asset.

Essential 2D Shaders

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Refund policy
This asset is covered by the Unity Asset Store Refund Policy. Please see section 2.9.3 of the EULA for details.
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License type
File size
29.5 MB
Latest version
5.2.0
Latest release date
Jan 21, 2025
Original Unity version
2021.3.0
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