Unleash the Pixelizer FX!

Unleash the Pixelizer FX!

Table of Contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. The Pixelizer Weapon in Ratchet and Clank
  3. Implementing the Pixelizer Effect in Unity 3.1 Setting up the Scene 3.2 Creating the Pixelizer Object 3.3 Creating the PixelizerRenderer Component 3.4 Rendering the Character to a Render Texture 3.5 Manually Rendering the Camera 3.6 Creating a Voxel Buffer 3.7 Rendering the Voxels 3.8 Exploding the Character Voxels
  4. The Pixelated Shader 4.1 Declaring the Voxel Structure 4.2 Setting up the Voxel Buffer 4.3 Implementing the Vertex Shader 4.4 Implementing the Geometry Shader 4.5 Implementing the Fragment Shader 4.6 Creating the Pixelated Material
  5. Enabling and Disabling the Pixelation Effect
  6. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Ratchet and Clank, developed in 2016, is a highly acclaimed 3D platformer game known for its Pixar-quality animations. One of the iconic weapons in the game is the Pixelizer. This weapon has the ability to blast enemies back in time, turning them into pixelated versions of themselves. If You're a game developer using Unity, you might be Wondering how to implement such an effect in your own game. In this article, we will discuss step-by-step how to Create the pixelization effect of the Pixelizer using Unity.

2. The Pixelizer Weapon in Ratchet and Clank

Before diving into the implementation details, let's take a closer look at the Pixelizer weapon in Ratchet and Clank. This weapon fires a burst of energy that transforms enemies into pixelated versions of themselves, reminiscent of early video game graphics. The enemies then burst into pixels when defeated, giving a unique visual effect.

3. Implementing the Pixelizer Effect in Unity

Now, let's start implementing the Pixelizer effect in Unity. We'll go through each step required to replicate the effect in your own game.

3.1 Setting up the Scene

To begin, set up a simple scene in Unity with a character downloaded from the Asset Store. Make sure to note the assets used for this project.

3.2 Creating the Pixelizer Object

Create an empty object called "Pixelizer" in your scene. This object will have a child with a camera component attached to it. The camera component will be disabled and configured to only clear the depth and cull nothing. This means the camera won't render anything by default.

3.3 Creating the PixelizerRenderer Component

Next, create a new component called PixelizerRenderer and attach it to the Pixelizer object. This component will be responsible for rendering the voxels when the enemy gets pixelated.

3.4 Rendering the Character to a Render Texture

In the Awake function of the PixelizerRenderer component, get the camera component and create a render texture and a command buffer. The command buffer will render the character to the render texture. Set the filter mode of the render texture to Point to avoid any blurriness.

3.5 Manually Rendering the Camera

In the Update function of the PixelizerRenderer component, manually render the camera. This will ensure that the character is rendered as expected.

3.6 Creating a Voxel Buffer

Create a voxel buffer, which is a list of points in space representing each pixel of the image. Calculate the bounds of the object and render a GRID to Visualize the voxels.

3.7 Rendering the Voxels

Render the voxels using the DrawProcedural call in Unity. This allows us to send the voxel data to the GPU without the need for vertex or index data.

3.8 Exploding the Character Voxels

When the character gets killed, Read the texture back from the GPU and retrieve the voxel positions and colors. Use this data to initialize a particle system, which will simulate the explosion of the character voxels.

4. The Pixelated Shader

To achieve the pixelated effect, we need to create a custom pixelated shader in Unity. This shader will be used to render the voxels.

4.1 Declaring the Voxel Structure

Declare a voxel structure in the shader, matching the alignment and size of the voxel structure in the PixelizerRenderer component.

4.2 Setting up the Voxel Buffer

Set up the voxel buffer before calling the DrawProcedural function. This buffer contains the voxel data that will be used in the geometry shader.

4.3 Implementing the Vertex Shader

In the vertex shader, retrieve the local position from the buffer and read the color from the pixelated texture using the UVs from the buffer.

4.4 Implementing the Geometry Shader

In the geometry shader, take the data from the vertex shader and create a voxel using predefined arrays. These arrays contain the location of each vertex of the faces of the cube and their normals. Add these points to the TriangleStream and reset the stream after each triangle.

**4.5 Implementi

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