Mastering Unity Shaders and Effects

Harness the power of Unity 5 tools to write shaders and create stunning effects for next generation games

About This Book

• Leverage the power of Unity 5 compatible shaders to create a variety of realistic surfaces
• Create amazing visual effects for your Unity 5.x games by blending advanced post-processing techniques and lighting effects
• Add that extra visual edge to your games by learning pro level techniques

Who This Book Is For

This book is for users who are familiar with creating Unity projects and are looking for the next step to create stunning high-end visuals in their game project using the latest tools and features. You are expected to understand the creation of basic Unity projects, game object types, and scene navigation. You will need some basic programming experience in C# or JavaScript.

What You Will Learn

• Build your own custom shaders to suit a variety of organic and inorganic surfaces
• Create amazing visual effects using Unity 5's improved toolset
• Compare the advantages of Metallic and Specular workflows in Unity's Physically Based Lighting System
• Take your Unity 5 project to the next level with advanced real-time and baked lighting methods
• Design powerful particle effects
• Find out how shaders, materials, and scripts work together within the Unity framework
• Develop high-end and optimized game visuals suitable for mobile devices and other platforms

In Detail

With the inclusion of Physically Based Shading and the Standard Shader, Unity has changed the game for independent and large scale developers alike. Never before has it been so easy to create startling high quality visuals in games and other interactive projects.

This book will give you a solid understanding of the interaction of shaders, lighting and effects in Unity 5, and give you some great ideas for how you can maximize the visual impact of your own games for PC, mobile and other platforms. In the sequence of chapters you will find solutions to some of the major challenges to the creation of responsive and realistic looking games.

As you work on example scenes, you will get to know the syntax of ShaderLab and CG languages, creating simple and complex shader solutions for a variety of different surface effects. You will see how Unity's responsive lighting solutions can be harnessed to build immersive and appealing game experiences.

Style and approach

This is the most up-to-date resource on creating amazing visual effects for your Unity 5.x games. With the perfect mix of advanced techniques and their illustrations in real-world examples, this is the most comprehensive advanced guide on Unity shaders and effects you'll find.