Shader Graph is a tool that was introduced to the Unity Engine earlier this year that allowed developers to build shaders visually.
Unity has recently released some new updates to the software, bringing it to Unity 2018.2 as well as a new project demo to further explore how games can be usually shaped in their engine.
The new features that have been presented in this latest update include:
- High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) support
- Vertex Position
- Property Reference Names
- Editable Paths for Graphs
- New nodes: gradients, texture 2D array, texture 3D, and more
Unity has also released a new demo project for developers to get more accustomed to the new features that have been added to the engine. If you would like the download and try out this demo for yourself the link is here.
The project will come with sample graphs with high quality of foliage and environment shaders. The project will also come with a Readme for developers to quickly references these techniques such as buttons that allow developers to switch between lightweight and high definition render pipelines. This primarily so developers can test compatibility between two pipelines.
The first shader graph allowed you to use the standard graph however this update will allow creators to make their own shader graphs. Some unique qualities to the standard shader that will be in this project however include:
- Two-Sided rendering enabled in the Master Node settings
- Our new Is Front-Face node to flip back-facing normal
- A world-position based dither mask in the alpha channel
The project will include examples of simple vegetation graph that can be used for grass and flowers and a more complex vegetation graph that can be used for bigger flora like trees. This is to give developers an idea of the different kinds of environment that can be created through the engine.
