Expand your knowledge of shader writing in unity in this complete tutorial series.

In this Unity tutorial series we will be expanding on the knowledge gained through the beginner series

Goal of this series

In the previous beginner series we covered the core fundamentals, the absolute basics of shader writing, but now we get to go into some more intermediate topics targeting those who already have the fundamental knowledge, the knowledge you gained from the beginner series. I plan on taking your skills to the next level of shader writing in Unity 4.0

What is covered in this Unity Series

In the Intermediate section we will start off by adding transparency to our shaders before moving on to reflections and refractions, after that we will cover how to add anisotropic lighting to our shaders followed by creating depth fog and depth of field that will work in unity free, we also cover flat translucency, vertex animation and end with toon shading. This is a big series and I hope you are as excited as I am to get started.

To accompany the videos, I have made sure there is a full written version of each tutorial in the source files along with the shaders available to Citizen Members. 

Be sure to watch the tutorial carefully, and post any questions you may have if you get stuck, as there is a lot to cover.

I have referenced some material from the following books throughout this series:

• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cg_Programming/Unity
• http://http.developer.nvidia.com/CgTutorial/cg_tutorial_chapter01.html
• http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems/gpugems_pref02.html
• http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems2/gpugems2_frontmatter.html
• http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_pref02.html

I certainly recommend reading those books as they are fantastic and cover a lot more than what you will find here, what I have done is broken everything down into easy to follow, ordered lessons that will work in unity 4.

NOTE: This tutorial requires knowledge of basic shader writing, it is essential to have followed the beginner series or have equivalent knowledge before starting this series.

Technical Quick Tip: Combining multiple materials into a single draw call

It’s time to get down and dirty with some scripting in Unity.

In this Technical Unity Cookie Quick Tip, I take you through the process of using scripting to combine multiple materials and vertex colors into a single material with a single draw call. We’ll be starting with the mesh.color script available here from Unity.

This technique is based around changing the vertex colors with scripting, and then taking those colors into the shader, now this technique is not just for changing colors, we can also use it to change textures, and pass variables to the shader on a per object basis while all objects keep the same material and therefore within a single draw call.

Referenced Tutorials in the Tip

• Surface Shader Series
• Intro to Shader Writing

Got questions?

Feel free to leave them below or see you on the forums!

Learn the fundamentals of shader writing in unity in this complete tutorial series.

In this Unity tutorial series we will be giving you a basic introduction to shader scripting, showing you how to write your own vertex/fragment shaders from scratch in unity.

Goal of this series

I have learned the hard way how to write shaders through books and experimentation, trial and error. The goal of this series is to take everything I have learned and structure it into easy to follow, ordered lessons that work in unity 4, with clear instructions on not only how to write clean and efficient code, but also how to debug and optimize your shaders.

Effectively this is the series I wish I had when I started learning CG.

What is covered in this Unity Series

In this beginner section we will be covering how to deal with colors and textures, how to write complete lighting models from scratch and even delve into normal mapping. These video tutorials are accompanied by a presentation and written version of the tutorial, I recommend watching the video and referring to the text as reference.

Be sure to watch the tutorial carefully, and post any questions you may have if you get stuck, as there is a lot to cover.

I have referenced some material from the following books throughout this series:

• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cg_Programming/Unity
• http://http.developer.nvidia.com/CgTutorial/cg_tutorial_chapter01.html
• http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems/gpugems_pref02.html
• http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems2/gpugems2_frontmatter.html
• http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_pref02.html

I certainly recommend reading those books as they are fantastic and cover a lot more than what you will find here, what I have done is broken everything down into easy to follow, ordered lessons that will work in unity 4.

NOTE: This tutorial requires very basic knowledge of scripting such as variables and functions. If you have no scripting experience I recommend you first watch our Introduction to Scripting tutorial in the getting started section.

Tower Defense Tutorial: Part 9 AI Tanks

In this video, we will take our new found knowledge of AI Pathfinding and apply it to real, in-game Tanks! This means AI units that move along the ground, and intelligently dodge obstacles, relentlessly marching toward your base.  Luckily, we will also cover upgrading your defenses- setting up projectiles and turrets for this new enemy.

What is covered in this tutorial:

• Applying AI to an in-game enemy
• Upgrading projectile, enemy, and turret scripts to all be class-based
• Creating spawns for the ground units
• Efficiently rebuilding the AI Grid and Re-Pathing all units as needed

 This tutorial uses the “A” Pathfinding Project

• Download “A” Pathfinding Project
• View Getting started tutorial on the “A” Pathfinding project.

Tower Defense Tutorial: Part 8 – AI Pathfinding

This tutorial will focus almost exclusively on setting up a fully-functional AI Pathfinding solution for our Tower Defense game! This paves the way for our ground-based attackers, allowing them to dynamically maneuver around turrets, even as you place them. Of course, AI Pathfinding can be useful for many other projects, so give this one your full attention!

What is covered in this tutorial:

• Downloading and importing the “A* Pathfinding Project”
• Setting up a grid-based A* Graph
• Creating a script to intelligently Path your Units
• Using the Character Controller component to move units along the AI Path

 This tutorial uses the “A” Pathfinding Project

• Download “A” Pathfinding Project
• View Getting started tutorial on the “A” Pathfinding project.

Tower Defense Tutorial: Part 7- Upgrading Turrets

No Tower Defense game is complete without up-gradable structures! This tutorial will setup your game for upgrades, and also lay some groundwork for purchasing of other items such as inventory, etc. Best of all, we will delve just a bit into “extending” from base classes. This is a technique you will find useful in many, many cases, and very simple to use.

What is covered in this tutorial:

• Creating a new “Upgrade Structure” GUI Panel
• Creating multiple levels of each Structure
• Using a Base Class, and Extending it with other scripts
• Creating a generic function to handle cost-checking when purchasing

Creating a Gun Turret for a Game in Unity

Everybody loves that part of a game where you get to control the Big Giant Turret Gun- now it’s your turn to create that experience in Unity! Whether you are planning a Tailgunner style game, Flying Fortress, Mech Suit, Anti-Aircraft Gun, or anything else, this Citizen series has you covered.

What the Unity Game Engine Course Covers:

You will learn how to model, animate, texture, export, and script your turret for use in the Unity 3D game engine. Your final turret will even feature animation-synced firing, smooth-follow rotation, a custom glowing HUD, and many more features. Along the way, you will also learn many very handy game-creation skills such as custom normal maps, emmisive textures, and utilizing the Alpha Channel, optimization, animation, and more.

Once you have everything built and working, take a look at the bonus tutorials to advance your game even further!

Videos 1 – 7 are in 3D Studio Max for the building of the assets, Video 8 then begins the integration into Unity.

Software used: 3DS Max 2010, Photoshop CS5 and Unity 3.5

Unity Tower Defense Tutorial: Part 6 Merging and Cash System

Moving even closer to a fully-functional Tower Defense, this tutorial will integrate a cash-based purchasing system for your turrets and structures. We will also add a cash reward for destroying enemies, and beef up the GUI to show off all these new features. On top of all that, this tutorial will take you step by step through the perilous task of merging the separately built waves, health, and flying enemy tutorials, into the full-GUI scene. Getting close, folks!

What is covered in this tutorial:

• Exporting and Importing objects between projects
• Merging separate scripts effectively (ie, no spaghetti code)
• Dynamically active buttons, based on cash amount
• Cash rewards and turret costs

Unity Tower Defense Tutorial: Part 5 Setting up Waves

This tutorial adds fully functional waves to your Tower Defense game, and also adds tracking of player score and health. As part of the waves, we will go over setting up a single difficulty multiplier, and applying it “globally”. There will also be talk on how to best tweak your waves for the right difficulty curve- a very important part of any game, but especially Tower Defense! Lastly, we will go over dynamically changing NGUI text (UILabel) items, for visual score, health, and wave tracking.

What is covered in this tutorial:

• Setting up Waves
• NGUI dynamic text
• Scoring and difficulty multipliers
• Player “Health”

Tower Defense Tutorial: Part 4

Finally- time for some action! This Unity tutorial will introduce a simple flying enemy to the game, along with some special tweaks for ground vs air turrets, and the missile projectile. We will also update the turret’s targeting systems to cope with many enemies at once, and lastly, lay some groundwork for a game-controller script.

What is covered in this tutorial:

• Creating a “flying attack vehicle”
• UEnemy “kills”
• Specialized turret targeting
• Smart re-targeting for turrets
• Spawning enemies