Silhouette Shader

[sazberryftw]

I believe that was before we included support for Outline effects as we do at the moment.

Regarding the Valve example, it's great reference but unfortunately it requires multi-pass support. We're actually working on multi-pass support as we speak, it should be available in a couple of weeks.

I would definitely recommend looking into the screen-space solution as it provides the best results, regardless of the geometry used.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused, we'll keep your email on record and notify you as soon as multi-pass support is available.

Well it's good to know I might be able to achieve it with multi-pass solution in the future.

Thanks for the help, I will take a look into the screen-space solution although I am using this outline feature in VR and I'm not fully aware if screen space effects work the same in VR.

[Ricardo Teixeira]

I believe that was before we included support for Outline effects as we do at the moment.

Regarding the Valve example, it's great reference but unfortunately it requires multi-pass support. We're actually working on multi-pass support as we speak, it should be available in a couple of weeks.

I would definitely recommend looking into the screen-space solution as it provides the best results, regardless of the geometry used.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused, we'll keep your email on record and notify you as soon as multi-pass support is available.

Well it's good to know I might be able to achieve it with multi-pass solution in the future.

Thanks for the help, I will take a look into the screen-space solution although I am using this outline feature in VR and I'm not fully aware if screen space effects work the same in VR.

No problem, always happy to help!

I see, for VR it's probably best to look into a shader based solution

[sazberryftw]

No problem, always happy to help!

I see, for VR it's probably best to look into a shader based solution

One more question actually - is doing an outline via vertex colors an option? Is this something I could achieve myself in Amplify or would it need to be added into the existing outline functionality (as in a third option for "vertex colors" along with "scale" and "offset")?

[Ricardo Teixeira]

No problem, always happy to help!

I see, for VR it's probably best to look into a shader based solution

One more question actually - is doing an outline via vertex colors an option? Is this something I could achieve myself in Amplify or would it need to be added into the existing outline functionality (as in a third option for "vertex colors" along with "scale" and "offset")?

Depends on how you intend to apply it, with a Custom Outline (as shown previously in the screenshot I shared) you can define its color and even its transparency.

Apologies for not being more specific but without additional information I'm not entirely sure what to recommend.

Would it be for something like getting the nearest vertex color and applying that to the outline?

Looking forward to your reply.

[sazberryftw]

Depends on how you intend to apply it, with a Custom Outline (as shown previously in the screenshot I shared) you can define its color and even its transparency.

Apologies for not being more specific but without additional information I'm not entirely sure what to recommend.

Would it be for something like getting the nearest vertex color and applying that to the outline?

Looking forward to your reply.

No worries, I guess I'm not 100% sure how it would work myself, but I think this solution would only solve the hard edge problem, and not create the silouhette effect I'm looking for.

"Vertex Color Normals. A method which should perform best of both worlds is by pre calculating a smooth normal for each vertex based on all the normals and then passing that information to the shader as vertex colour data."

I guess the pre-calculation of normals would have to be a code thing and then perhaps you coulda access the vertex color through Amplify? This might be useful for anyone trying to avoid the issue of hard edge models.

I think for now, I will have to wait to see if the multi-pass update allows me to explore creating a silhouette effect in Amplify. Thanks for the help!

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Depends on how you intend to apply it, with a Custom Outline (as shown previously in the screenshot I shared) you can define its color and even its transparency.
Apologies for not being more specific but without additional information I'm not entirely sure what to recommend.
Would it be for something like getting the nearest vertex color and applying that to the outline?
Looking forward to your reply.

No worries, I guess I'm not 100% sure how it would work myself, but I think this solution would only solve the hard edge problem, and not create the silouhette effect I'm looking for.
"Vertex Color Normals. A method which should perform best of both worlds is by pre calculating a smooth normal for each vertex based on all the normals and then passing that information to the shader as vertex colour data."
I guess the pre-calculation of normals would have to be a code thing and then perhaps you coulda access the vertex color through Amplify? This might be useful for anyone trying to avoid the issue of hard edge models.
I think for now, I will have to wait to see if the multi-pass update allows me to explore creating a silhouette effect in Amplify. Thanks for the help!

That's an interesting use, I don't see any reason why it would not work with ASE as we provide the necessary nodes to access that information; the implementation it self would be the tricky part.

In any case, it seems that option involves some work out of the editor scope and, as you mentioned, it would only solve the hard edge issue.

We'll keep you posted on multi-pass support!

[sazberryftw]

That's an interesting use, I don't see any reason why it would not work with ASE as we provide the necessary nodes to access that information; the implementation it self would be the tricky part.

In any case, it seems that option involves some work out of the editor scope and, as you mentioned, it would only solve the hard edge issue.

We'll keep you posted on multi-pass support!

If I do investigate the vertex colour method I will make sure to post my findings in case it's useful for anyone else.

[Ricardo Teixeira]

That's an interesting use, I don't see any reason why it would not work with ASE as we provide the necessary nodes to access that information; the implementation it self would be the tricky part.

In any case, it seems that option involves some work out of the editor scope and, as you mentioned, it would only solve the hard edge issue.

We'll keep you posted on multi-pass support!

If I do investigate the vertex colour method I will make sure to post my findings in case it's useful for anyone else.

Awesome, looking forward to it!

I recommend posting it on the official ASE Unity Forum thread, the community is much more responsive there as this forum is mainly aimed at support.

ASE Unity Forum Thread