Overcome the challenges and complexities involved in creating your own shaders with high-level realism using practical solutions, best practices, and the latest features of Unity 2021 Key Features Discover practical recipes for mastering post-processing effects and advanced shading techniques Learn the secrets of creating AAA quality shaders without writing long algorithms Create visually stunning effects for your games using Unity's VFX Graph Book Description Shaders enable you to create powerful visuals for your game projects. However, creating shaders for your games can be notoriously challenging with various factors such as complex mathematics standing in the way of attaining the level of realism you crave for your shaders. The Unity 2021 Shaders and Effects Cookbook helps you overcome that with a recipe-based approach to creating shaders using Unity. This fourth edition is updated and enhanced using Unity 2021 features and tools covering Unity's new way of creating particle effects with the VFX Graph. You'll learn how to use VFX Graph for advanced shader development. The book also features updated recipes for using Shader Graph to create 2D and 3D elements. You'll cover everything you need to know about vectors, how they can be used to construct lighting, and how to use textures to create complex effects without the heavy math. You'll also understand how to use the visual-based Shader Graph for creating shaders without any code. By the end of this Unity book, you'll have developed a set of shaders that you can use in your Unity 3D games and be able to accomplish new effects and address the performance needs of your Unity game development projects. So, let's get started! What you will learn Use physically based rendering to fit the aesthetic of your game Create spectacular effects for your games by testing the limits of what shaders can do Explore advanced shader techniques for your games with AAA quality Use Shader Graph to create 2D and 3D elements for your games without writing code Master the math and algorithms behind the commonly used lighting models Get to grips with the Post-Processing Stack to tweak the appearance of your game Who this book is for This book is for game developers who want to start creating their first shaders in Unity 2021 and take their game to a whole new level by adding professional post-processing effects. The book assumes intermediate-level knowledge of Unity.

Bring realism to your games by mastering post-processing effects and advanced shading techniques in Unity 2018 Key Features Learn the secrets of creating AAA quality shaders without writing long algorithms Master shader programming through easy-to-follow examples Create stunning visual effects that can be used in 3D games Book Description Since their introduction to Unity, shaders have been seen as notoriously difficult to understand and implement in games. Complex mathematics has always stood in the way of creating your own shaders and attaining the level of realism you crave. Unity 2018 Shaders and Effects Cookbook changes that by giving you a recipe-based guide to creating shaders using Unity. It will show you everything you need to know about vectors, how lighting is constructed with them, and how textures are used to create complex effects without the heavy math. This book starts by teaching you how to use shaders without writing code with the post-processing stack. Then, you’ll learn how to write shaders from scratch, build up essential lighting, and finish by creating stunning screen effects just like those in high-quality 3D and mobile games. You'll discover techniques, such as normal mapping, image-based lighting, and animating your models inside a shader. We'll explore how to use physically based rendering to treat light the way it behaves in the real world. At the end, we’ll even look at Unity 2018’s new Shader Graph system. With this book, what seems like a dark art today will be second nature by tomorrow. What you will learn Understand physically based rendering to fit the aesthetic of your game Write shaders from scratch in ShaderLab and HLSL/Cg Combine shader programming with interactive scripts to add life to your materials Design efficient shaders for mobile platforms without sacrificing their realism Use state-of-the-art techniques, such as volumetric explosions and fur shading Master the math and algorithms behind the most used lighting models Understand how shader models have evolved and how you can create your own Who this book is for Unity Shaders and Effects Cookbook is for developers who want to create their first shaders in Unity 2018 or wish to take their game to a whole new level by adding professional post-processing effects. A solid understanding of Unity is required to get the most from this book.

Master the art of Shader programming to bring life to your Unity projects About This Book This book will help you master the technique of physically based shading in Unity 5 to add realism to your game quickly through precise recipes From an eminent author, this book offers you the fine technicalities of professional post-processing effects for stunning results This book will help you master Shader programming through easy-to-follow examples to create stunning visual effects that can be used in 3D games and high quality graphics. Who This Book Is For Unity Effects and Shader Cookbook is written for developers who want to create their first Shaders in Unity 5 or wish to take their game to a whole new level by adding professional post-processing effects. A solid understanding of Unity is required. What You Will Learn Understand physically based rendering to fit the aesthetic of your game Enter the world of post-processing effects to make your game look visually stunning Add life to your materials, complementing Shader programming with interactive scripts Design efficient Shaders for mobile platforms without sacrificing their realism Use state-of-the-art techniques such as volumetric explosions and fur shading Build your knowledge by understanding how Shader models have evolved and how you can create your own Discover what goes into the structure of Shaders and why lighting works the way it does Master the math and algorithms behind the most used lighting models In Detail Since their introduction to Unity, Shaders have been notoriously difficult to understand and implement in games: complex mathematics have always stood in the way of creating your own Shaders and attaining that level of realism you crave. With Shaders, you can transform your game into a highly polished, refined product with Unity's post-processing effects. Unity Shaders and Effects Cookbook is the first of its kind to bring you the secrets of creating Shaders for Unity3D—guiding you through the process of understanding vectors, how lighting is constructed with them, and also how textures are used to create complex effects without the heavy math. We'll start with essential lighting and finishing up by creating stunning screen Effects just like those in high quality 3D and mobile games. You'll discover techniques including normal mapping, image-based lighting, and how to animate your models inside a Shader. We'll explore the secrets behind some of the most powerful techniques, such as physically based rendering! With Unity Shaders and Effects Cookbook, what seems like a dark art today will be second nature by tomorrow. Style and approach The recipes in this book contain step-by-step instructions, complemented by screenshots and code, and real-world examples.

Discover how to make your Unity projects look stunning with Shaders and screen effects

A recipe-based guide to give you practical information on Unity 5.x animation techniques and tools About This Book A straightforward and easy-to-follow format. A selection of the most important tasks and problems. Carefully organized instructions to solve problems efficiently. Clear explanations of what you did. Solutions that can be applied to solve real-world problems. Who This Book Is For This book is for Unity developers who have some exposure to Unity game development who want to learn the nuances of animation in Unity. Previous knowledge of animation techniques and mecanim is not necessary. What You Will Learn Importing animations to Unity Work with different animation assets and components Create, visualize, and edit animated creatures Animating game cut scenes Design character actions and expressions Create gameplay by animating characters and environments Use animations to drive in-game logic In Detail This recipe-based practical guide will show you how to unleash the power of animation in Unity 5.x and make your games visually impeccable. Our primary focus is on showing you tools and techniques to animate not only humanoid biped characters, but also other elements. This includes non-humanoid character animation, game world creation, UI element animation, and other key features such as opening doors, changing lights, transitioning to different scenes, using physics, setting up ragdolls, creating destructible objects and more. While discussing these topics, the book will focus on mecanim, the Unity 3D animation tool, and how you can use it to perform all these tasks efficiently and quickly. It contains a downloadable Unity project with interactive examples for all the recipes. By the end of this book, you will be confident and self-sufficient in animating your Unity 3D games efficiently. Style and approach This practical no-nonsense guide is recipe-based with real-world examples of almost all the techniques mentioned.

It’s time to stop thinking that shaders are magical. You can use shaders to turn data into stunning visual effects, and get your hands dirty by building your own shader with this step-by-step introduction to shader development for game and graphics developers. Learn how to make shaders that move, tint, light up, and look awesome, all without cracking open a math textbook. Practical Shader Development teaches the theory behind how shaders work. The book also shows you how to apply that theory to create eye-popping visual effects. You’ll learn to profile and optimize those effects to make sure your projects keep running quickly with all their new visuals. You’ll learn good theory, good practices, and without getting bogged down in the math. Author Kyle Halladay explains the fundamentals of shader development through simple examples and hands-on experiments. He teaches you how to find performance issues in shaders you are using and then how to fix them. Kyle explains (and contrasts) how to use the knowledge learned from this book in three of the most popular game engines today. What You'll LearnUnderstand what shaders are and how they work Get up to speed on the nuts and bolts of writing vertex and fragment shaders Utilize color blending and know how blend equations work Know the coordinate spaces used when rendering real-time computer graphics Use simple math to animate characters, simulate lights, and create a wide variety of visual effects Find and fix performance problems in shaders See how three popular game engines (Unity, UE4, Godot) handle shaders Who This Book Is For Programmers who are interested in writing their own shaders but do not know where to start, anyone who has ever seen shader code on a forum and wished they knew how to modify it just a little bit to fit into their own projects, and game developers who are tired of using the default shaders found in the game engines they are using. The book is especially useful for those who have been put off by existing shader tutorials which introduce complex math and graphics theory before ever getting something on the screen.

Build optimized, efficient, and real-time applications that are production-ready using Unreal Engine's Material Editor Key FeaturesCreate stunning visual effects for 3D games and high-quality graphicsDesign efficient Shaders for mobile platforms without sacrificing their realismDiscover what goes into the structure of Shaders and why lighting works the way it doesBook Description Unreal Engine 4 is a powerful game engine, one which has seen a recent boost in widespread adoption thanks to its ease of use and the powerful rendering pipeline that it packs. Seeing as how it's relatively easy to create stunning presentations and visuals, Unreal has quickly become a strong contender in industries where this kind of software had been previously denied entry. With that in mind, this book aims to help you get the most out of Unreal Engine 4 - from creating awe-inspiring graphics to delivering optimized experiences to your users. This is possible thanks to a mixture of hands-on experience with real materials and the theory behind them. You will immediately know how to create that material that you want to display, and you'll also end up with the knowledge that will let you know how to control it. All of this will be done without losing sight of two key components of any real-time application - optimization, and efficiency. The materials that you create will be light and efficient, and they will vary depending on your target platform. You'll know which techniques can be used in any kind of device and which ones should be kept to high-end machines, giving you the confidence to tackle any material-related task that you can imagine. Hop onboard and discover how! What you will learnMaster Unreal Engine's rendering pipeline for developing real-time graphicsUse physically based rendering (PBR) for building materials and lighting solutionsBuild optimized materials for games targeting multiple platformsUnderstand Unreal Engine's node and functions for creating desirable effectsDesign and build production-ready shadersExplore Unreal Engine's Material Editor for building complex materials and texturesWho this book is for This book is for developers who want to create their first Shaders in Unreal Engine 4 or wish to take their game to a whole new level by adding professional post-processing effects. A solid understanding of Unreal is required to get the most from this book.