Has shader outlines like this ever been possible?

Guideborn · Dec 2015

The example below is 2D; however, I'm quite curious if something like this was ever possible in a game engine.

almighty_gir · Dec 2015

yes.

you would use largely the same math that's used to generate curvature maps, but you'd do it in realtime instead of baking down to a static source (map).

Guideborn · Dec 2015

almighty_gir said:

yes.

you would use largely the same math that's used to generate curvature maps, but you'd do it in realtime instead of baking down to a static source (map).

Comforting to know it's possible! Unfortunately, I am not a shader expert so I have no idea what any of that means. lol Thanks for the answer!

Eric Chadwick · Dec 2015

If you google "shader outline" you'll get several results. I'm surprised you didn't try this. The fifth result I get from that search is shaders - How can I draw outlines around 3D models ... which describes pretty clearly how it can be done.

If some of the terms and workflow are a bit foreign, I suggest reading an introduction to real-time rendering, written for artists. For example http://simonschreibt.de/gat/renderhell-book1/ And we have more of those here http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Rendering#Rendering_Articles

RN · Dec 2015

Simon's website has a page on an outline effect. The comments are brilliant too.
http://simonschreibt.de/gat/cell-shading/#comment-331

Guideborn · Dec 2015

I'm not trying to achieve just any outline. That's just elementary. What I am asking is how to achieve pixelated bitmap lines as shown in the image.

Eric Chadwick · Dec 2015

You should have mentioned it then, jeez.

Post process would probably be the way to go. Have you seen The Return of Obra Dinn? https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.msg1024815&_ga=1.160958653.1048099436.1450574354#msg1024815

RN · Dec 2015

If you want both the outline and the content to be pixelated, you can just use any of those outline techniques in a low resolution framebuffer, then draw that framebuffer as a texture upscaled to fill the game screen.

If you want just the outline to be pixelated and not the content that it is outlining (I don't think that'll look good), then you can render all outlines to an off-screen framebuffer and then run a mosaic \ pixelisation shader on it. Then composite that on top of the content.

Guideborn · Dec 2015

Eric Chadwick said:

You should have mentioned it then, jeez.

Post process would probably be the way to go. Have you seen The Return of Obra Dinn? https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.msg1024815&_ga=1.160958653.1048099436.1450574354#msg1024815

Such a fantastic example! This is exactly what I'm trying to achieve. Thanks for sharing this. I'll look into this unless you got any leads. :]

skankerzero · Dec 2015

There's always Howard Day's pixel art shader.
http://www.hedfiles.net/PixelShader/index.html

Image: http://www.hedfiles.net/PixelShader/pixart_111.gif

Also maybe of some interest:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/47798

Has shader outlines like this ever been possible?

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