See Through Shader Approach

Unity Engine
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1

Hi all,

I’m working on an isometric game for mobile where the views of characters are often blocked by walls and other obstacles. I know this is a common problem and I’m aware of the possible solutions (this reddit post sums them up well [link]).

I would like to incorporate the “x-ray bubble” method and cut a hole in the obstructing objects with a smooth edge, and there many solutions to achieve this effect:

  • See Through Wall Shader - Unity 2019 Tutorial - Shader Graph [link]
  • Wall Cutout in Unity Shader Graph [Tutorial] [link]
  • See through walls shader | Under60sec Unity tutorial [link]
  • How can I create a “see behind walls” effect? [link]

I’ve incorporated this effect successfully, however I have a few issues:

  • Issue 1: For all examples listed above, the shader only works for one character. Ideally I would like this to apply for all characters on screen.
  • Issue 2: All materials applied to objects obscuring all characters need to be found with every update and have their shader variables altered. Would this be computationally intensive?

I have thought about ways in order to resolve these issues:

  • Solution to Issue 1: Replicate parts of the shader graph which generate the cutout shape and supply each with the position of a different character. Combine them all before they are fed into the alpha channel of the PBR master.
  • Solution to Issue 2: Use a shader independent approach (which appears to be possible in this Unity Asset Pack: See-Through System). However, this package doesn’t work with the Universal Rendering Pipeline (which I’d like to use to launch on mobile).

I believe I’ve done quite a rigorous search to try and find a solution, but I’ve not quite found what I need. I would be very appreciative of an experienced perspective and critique on this approach. Am I trying to do too much? Would a solution be too intensive for mobile? Should I simplify the problem and use a silhouette style approach described in this Brackeys tutorial [link]?

Any hints at all would be extremely useful.

Thanks in advance!

Rich.

2

Hi
If your still looking for a solution check our Asset as this is custom made shader for this use case.
It can handle multi user multi buildings ( obstructions ) and is available for Standard URP and HDRP .

Greetings
Toorican