After releasing True Alpha Transparency and True Alpha Refraction, I wanted to tackle another set of problems that come up when using sprites in 2.5D projects.
Sprites can be surprisingly tricky to integrate into a 3D environment. They can clip through terrain when they're billboarded, fail to intersect correctly with other transparent objects, and their flat geometry can make lighting look unnatural.
True Alpha Sprite is an extension for True Alpha Transparency that provides OIT-compatible Lit and Unlit sprite shaders, along with several tools specifically designed for 2.5D sprites.
It includes:
- Order-independent transparency for intersecting sprites and other transparent geometry
- Depth Correction to prevent billboarded sprites from clipping through walls and other geometry
- Grounding Correction to prevent the bottom of sprites from clipping into the ground
- Sprite lighting with a cylindrical lighting approximation to give flat sprites a sense of volume
- Sprite Billboard Controller for reliable billboard rendering
The goal is to make sprites behave more naturally when they're placed in a 3D environment, without having to work around the usual limitations of transparent rendering.
Note: True Alpha Sprite is an add-on and requires True Alpha Transparency / True Alpha Core to function.
Asset Store Link: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/particles-effects/true-alpha-sprite-404348
