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shader that makes object look hollow
I am using the Standard render pipeline. I have found a shader I would like to use for a project. It simulates a liquid that can be filled up in the shape of the object its attached to.
A liquid should have a top surface, and the shader has a variable for setting _TopColor which also looks fine when used. But if another object intersects with the top surface it becomes clear that there is no surface and the object looks hollow.
As seen on these pictures where I took a standard sphere object, attached the shader and filled it to around 75%, and stuck a cube object into it, you can see that it looks like a hollow bowl. On the second picture I faked the result I would like to achieve by adding another object inside, which makes it look like the liquid actually has a top surface.
Here is the code for the shader:
Shader "Unlit/LiquidShader"
{
Properties
{
_Tint("Tint", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
_MainTex("Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
_FillAmount("Fill Amount", Range(0,100)) = 0.0
[HideInInspector] _WobbleX("WobbleX", Range(-1,1)) = 0.0
[HideInInspector] _WobbleZ("WobbleZ", Range(-1,1)) = 0.0
_TopColor("Top Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
_FoamColor("Foam Line Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
_Rim("Foam Line Width", Range(0,0.1)) = 0.0
_RimColor("Rim Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
_RimPower("Rim Power", Range(0,10)) = 0.0
}
SubShader
{
Tags {"Queue" = "Geometry" "DisableBatching" = "True" }
Pass
{
Zwrite On
Cull Off // we want the front and back faces
AlphaToMask On // transparency
CGPROGRAM
#pragma vertex vert
#pragma fragment frag
// make fog work
#pragma multi_compile_fog
#include "UnityCG.cginc"
struct appdata
{
float4 vertex : POSITION;
float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
float3 normal : NORMAL;
};
struct v2f
{
float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
UNITY_FOG_COORDS(1)
float4 vertex : SV_POSITION;
float3 viewDir : COLOR;
float3 normal : COLOR2;
float fillEdge : TEXCOORD2;
};
sampler2D _MainTex;
float4 _MainTex_ST;
float _FillAmount, _WobbleX, _WobbleZ;
float4 _TopColor, _RimColor, _FoamColor, _Tint;
float _Rim, _RimPower;
float4 RotateAroundYInDegrees(float4 vertex, float degrees)
{
float alpha = degrees * UNITY_PI / 180;
float sina, cosa;
sincos(alpha, sina, cosa);
float2x2 m = float2x2(cosa, sina, -sina, cosa);
return float4(vertex.yz , mul(m, vertex.xz)).xzyw;
}
v2f vert(appdata v)
{
v2f o;
o.vertex = UnityObjectToClipPos(v.vertex);
o.uv = TRANSFORM_TEX(v.uv, _MainTex);
UNITY_TRANSFER_FOG(o,o.vertex);
// get world position of the vertex
float3 worldPos = mul(unity_ObjectToWorld, v.vertex.xyz);
// rotate it around XY
float3 worldPosX = RotateAroundYInDegrees(float4(worldPos,0),360);
// rotate around XZ
float3 worldPosZ = float3 (worldPosX.y, worldPosX.z, worldPosX.x);
// combine rotations with worldPos, based on sine wave from script
float3 worldPosAdjusted = worldPos + (worldPosX * _WobbleX) + (worldPosZ * _WobbleZ);
// how high up the liquid is
o.fillEdge = worldPosAdjusted.y * 139 + (_FillAmount - 50);
o.viewDir = normalize(ObjSpaceViewDir(v.vertex));
o.normal = v.normal;
return o;
}
fixed4 frag(v2f i, fixed facing : VFACE) : SV_Target
{
// sample the texture
fixed4 col = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv) * _Tint;
// apply fog
UNITY_APPLY_FOG(i.fogCoord, col);
// rim light
float dotProduct = 1 - pow(dot(i.normal, i.viewDir), _RimPower);
float4 RimResult = smoothstep(0.5, 1.0, dotProduct);
RimResult *= _RimColor;
// foam edge
float4 foam = (step(i.fillEdge, 0.5) - step(i.fillEdge, (0.5 - _Rim)));
float4 foamColored = foam * (_FoamColor * 0.9);
// rest of the liquid
float4 result = step(i.fillEdge, 0.1) - foam;
float4 resultColored = result * col;
// both together, with the texture
float4 finalResult = resultColored + foamColored;
finalResult.rgb += RimResult;
// color of backfaces/ top
float4 topColor = _TopColor * (foam + result);
//VFACE returns positive for front facing, negative for backfacing
return facing > 0 ? finalResult : topColor;
}
ENDCG
}
}
}
Can anyone with a better understanding of writing shaders help with what should be changed in the shader code or if what I am trying to achieve is even possible?
Answer by khusainova · Oct 14, 2021 at 06:29 AM
I think it's not easy task because you need appropriate values in z-buffer. You can try next steps:
draw the sphere with your shader
draw back polygons of the sphere in the stensil buffer with special shader pass
draw a some plane like a top surface only in z-buffer with depth shader pass use stensil buffer like a mask
Your answer
