NOTE … I stumbled on to a fantastic little package called “DYNAMIC CIRCLES” in the asset store which seems to exactly solve this problem. Dynamic Circles
I had the ingenious idea of using the “search” feature in the asset store and typing the word “circles”
Further update: if you need to make more complicated indicators like this, an incredible solution is to use the astounding SMOOTH MOVES (see asset store), which is in fact absolutely perfect for doing this sort of thing.
Smooth Moves let’s you make boned mesh animations of 2D characters - it is incredible.
Normally you would use it for making people, panda bears, angry birds, etc, but it is also ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for making animated indicators, signs,moving arrows, directional indicators, gesture explanations and the like. Incredible product.
For the record Vectrosity has also come to the fore here. It does not do filled shapes but is a go-to solution for Vectors inside Unity. Thank you, Kleptomaniac !!! I had never heard of it before this.
I want to make an “indicator area,” in fact simply circular, in a scene.
You can imagine the type of thing - you are not allowed to go here, you must land a bullet in this area - that type of indication.
Perhaps there is something in the asset store? I couldn’t find anything. Any ideas? Cheers…
I’m not clear in why you want this to exist in GUI layers? The image you’ve posted looks like the circle exists in 3D, like the indicator for an Area-Of-Effect spell.
I think putting a png on a plane and orienting the plane might suit your purpose, but that solution will break if the plane intersects with arbitrary terrain. The projector is by far the better solution, there. Can you elaborate on why a projector is not “really right”? Does it just look “not quite right”, or do you worry about the computational complexity, or…?
The indicator only being visible from the camera’s pov: does that mean the circle is always perpendicular to Camera.forward, i.e., it will always display as a perfect circle and never an ellipse? Does it change size, ever?
Perhaps you could model a circle using triangle strips in Blender (or define it procedurally), and then attach that mesh as a child to the camera? Then you can give it a transparent red shader, have it not react to lights, and change its position along camera.forward in order to change its size (or merely scale it)?
