Overview

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Build practical Unity shader programming skills and gain greater control over real-time graphics, from foundational shader properties to advanced visual effects. You’ll begin by understanding the Unity shader pipeline, declaring properties and variables, and creating shaders with textures and transparency. You’ll then blend terrain textures, develop Lambert, Phong, and Blinn-Phong lighting models, and integrate baked global illumination, reflection probes, and light probes. As you progress, you’ll manipulate and extrude vertices, animate geometry, and create snow coverage, volumetric explosions, GrabPass distortion, glass, and water effects. You’ll also profile and optimize shaders while implementing post-processing adjustments, blend modes, film effects, night vision, reusable custom includes, shell-based fur, and heat map visualization. Designed for learners who want to create graphics for games, simulations, or immersive experiences, this course combines shader theory with hands-on Unity projects. Its structured progression from shader fundamentals to specialized rendering and performance optimization helps you balance visual quality with runtime efficiency. Enroll to build custom Unity shaders, create realistic lighting and screen effects, and confidently optimize rendering performance.

Syllabus

Shader Basics and Properties
- This module introduces the fundamentals of Unity shaders, including the shader pipeline, essential properties, and variable handling. Learners will explore how to declare properties, use shader variables, and build simple shaders with transparency and textures to establish a strong foundation in shader programming.
Lighting Models and Probes
- This module covers Unity’s lighting models and explores how to blend textures, implement custom shading models, and use probes for advanced illumination. Learners will understand how lighting interacts with surfaces and how to integrate reflection and light probes for realistic environments.
Vertex and Fragment Shaders
- This module focuses on vertex and fragment shader development. Learners will animate and extrude vertices, create volumetric effects, and explore fragment shaders with GrabPass, glass, and water rendering techniques for dynamic visual effects.
Shader Optimization and Screen Effects
- This module emphasizes shader optimization and performance profiling. Learners will apply post-processing image effects, explore blending modes, film effects, and advanced night vision shaders while balancing visual quality with runtime efficiency.
Advanced Shader Programming
- This module explores advanced shader programming concepts, including custom includes, fur rendering, and heat map shaders. Learners will create reusable shader components and implement specialized effects for cutting-edge Unity graphics.