Transparent and/or Cut-out shader with alpha based on distance

Unity Engine
1

I’m trying to create a shader for a netting material, like this: http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/4f/bf/41/langhorne.jpg

I don’t necessarily want a standard cut-out material, because it disappears in the distance. Fade and transparent are better, but still don’t give me enough control. So I started creating my own shader. Bear with me, this is the first shader I’m trying to create.

I pieced together a shader with a main texture and a bump map, smoothness, and metallic properties. Then I found a shader on the forum that adjusts the color based on distance. This is all a great start. What I’m missing is using the alpha channel of my main texture to give (semi-)transparency and then adjusting the alpha based on distance rather than the color (although I like being able to adjust the color, too). Here’s what I have:

Shader "Custom/FaderShader" {
    Properties {
        _Color ("Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
        _MainTex ("Albedo (RGB)", 2D) = "white" {}
        _BumpMap ("BumpMap", 2D) = "bump" {}
        _MinColor ("Color in Minimal", Color) = (1, 1, 1, 1)
        _MaxColor ("Color in Maximal", Color) = (0, 0, 0, 0)
        _MinDistance ("Min Distance", Float) = 1
        _MaxDistance ("Max Distance", Float) = 10
        _Glossiness ("Smoothness", Range(0,1)) = 0.5
        _Metallic ("Metallic", Range(0,1)) = 0.0
    }
    SubShader {
        Tags { "RenderType"="Transparent" }
        LOD 200
       
        CGPROGRAM
        // Physically based Standard lighting model, and enable shadows on all light types
        #pragma surface surf Standard fullforwardshadows

        // Use shader model 3.0 target, to get nicer looking lighting
        #pragma target 3.0

        sampler2D _MainTex;
        sampler2D _BumpMap;

        struct Input {
            float2 uv_MainTex;
            float2 uv_BumpMap;
            float3 worldPos;
        };

        float _MaxDistance;
        float _MinDistance;
        half4 _MinColor;
        half4 _MaxColor;
        half _Glossiness;
        half _Metallic;
        fixed4 _Color;

        void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutputStandard o) {
            // Albedo comes from a texture tinted by color
            half4 c = tex2D (_MainTex, IN.uv_MainTex) * _Color;
            float dist = distance(_WorldSpaceCameraPos, IN.worldPos);
            half weight = saturate( (dist - _MinDistance) / (_MaxDistance - _MinDistance) );
            half4 distanceColor = lerp(_MinColor, _MaxColor, weight);
           
            o.Albedo = c.rgb * distanceColor.rgb;
            o.Alpha = c.a * distanceColor.a;
           
            o.Normal = UnpackNormal (tex2D (_BumpMap, IN.uv_BumpMap));
           
            // Metallic and smoothness come from slider variables
            o.Metallic = _Metallic;
            o.Smoothness = _Glossiness;
        }
        ENDCG
    }
    FallBack "Diffuse"
}
2

I figured out how to make it a transparent material:
#pragma surface surf Standard alpha fullforwardshadows
after I found this page: Unity - Manual: Writing Surface Shaders
Although it gets me a little closer, it still doesn’t answer how (or if?) I can manipulate the alpha based on distance, so I’m still looking for help.

3

Same type of issue, i need a netting material that cast shadows on itself and also get harder to see through while looking at extreme angles, Cutout (second example) does that (somewhat) but is ugly. im not code savvy so i dont have the luxury of creating a material from scratch. any ideas??