'round' camera view

Unity Engine
1

Is it possible to set up the camera so you can get a round/circular view instead of a rectangle and if it is then how is it done ?

thanks

2

One way to do this is by attaching a mesh to the camera which contains geometry that creates a ‘hole’ through which the camera can see (or the other way around, attach the camera to an object that contains the mesh). Since the mesh does not move relative to the camera, it will provide a round mask for your view.

3

Thanks for the reply zorba.

I should have been clearer. I have a second camera that I want to show as a ‘round’ view but not block out the first camera. The second camera is rendered on top of the first one so I would see a round camera with a view and still see the main camera in the background.

I have not been able to find a solution to this so far but I believe it is possible.

thanks

4

I think I understand what you mean - the problem is that the mesh will cover the other camera thus creating a ‘square’ look anyway.

I have not tried this so I am not sure if it will work, but it is worth a try. You can add a transparent texture to the 1st camera mesh that will allow the other camera to show through. There may be problems if you use a lot of transparency in the scene thought.

5

Will try this but I wonder if the camera where the mesh is will also just ‘see through’ the transparent textured mesh.

thanks again.

I have seen this technique but am not sure how it was done.

6

Not sure what you are looking for exactly but Paul Bourke’s work may give you some ideas:

http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/miscellaneous/domemirror/UnityiDome/

7

thanks for the reply dpentecost.

I was hoping for something simpler but I guess it does not exist ?

I will try and contact the people who made the example that I saw and if I get any luck I will post the results here.

thanks again much appreciated

8

I’m not sure if this is what you’re talking about, but if you have a camera rendering on top of another, and need to “cut a hole” in it, you can make a mesh in the shape of the hole you need, and use this shader on it. Then, you’d just need to make sure it is right in front of the near clip plane, and parented to the camera.

Shader "Hole Cutter" { 

Subshader{
    Tags {Queue = Background}
    Pass{ColorMask 0}
}

}
9

Jessy, thanks for that I will give it a go.