Shader Builder | Universal Fluid Surface Shader

What is this project:

From gentle ripples to stormy waves, create fluid surfaces that breathe life into any scene, no matter the weather.

Universal Fluid Surface Shader is a shader-based solution for creating animated liquid surfaces in Unity, capable of supporting a wide range of art styles. Unlike existing shaders that are limited to specific visual styles, this shader allows full customization of wave and foam textures, colors, and other details, enabling both realistic rendering and toon shading. Featuring raindrop and heat distortion effects, it can simulate various weather conditions, such as rain or tropical heat. Utilizing normal textures, gradient noise, and Voronoi diagrams, this shader is versatile and adaptable for a wide range of scene requirements.

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What I did:

Customizable Liquid Simulation: Developed a shader system with fully customizable parameters for color, wave generation, ripple highlights, and foam effects, supporting both realistic and toon shading styles.

Optimized for Various Conditions: Implemented heat distortion and raindrop effects, allowing the shader to adapt to different weather conditions like tropical heat and rain.‍

Efficient Rendering: Balanced visual quality with performance, achieving visually engaging fluid surfaces in real-time for a wide range of scenes, from oceans to stylized liquids like chocolate.

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What I think:

Developing a Versatile Universal Water Shader

The Universal Surface Water Shader was designed to create flexible, dynamic water surfaces in Unity, supporting both realistic rendering and stylized aesthetics. Unlike many existing shaders that focus on fixed art styles, my approach prioritized customization and adaptability, allowing developers to tweak wave patterns, foam behavior, transparency, and refraction effects to suit various game environments.

Depth, Reflection, and Transparency

To create a visually rich water surface, I implemented gradient-based depth fading, allowing smooth transitions between shallow and deep areas. The shader also featured adjustable reflections, offering crisp mirror-like effects or diffuse water reflections based on scene requirements. Transparency was fine-tuned with depth-based alpha adjustments, ensuring a natural water appearance across different lighting conditions.

Wave Motion and Surface Detail

For dynamic water movement, I combined normal textures and vertex displacement to generate realistic wave motion. By layering opposite-moving normal maps and applying procedural vertex offset using gradient noise, I ensured fluid motion with adjustable wave strength and speed. This setup allowed the shader to adapt seamlessly to oceans, lakes, and stylized environments.

Refraction, Foam, and Environmental Effects

To enhance realism, I introduced depth-based refraction, causing objects beneath the surface to distort dynamically. I also implemented procedural foam generation, ensuring natural shoreline and object interactions. Additionally, I integrated raindrop ripples and heat distortion effects, making the shader adaptable to diverse weather conditions.

Conclusion: A Flexible and Optimized Solution

This shader provides a modular and highly customizable approach to water rendering, balancing performance efficiency with visual fidelity. By supporting both realistic and stylized aesthetics, it serves as a versatile solution for developers looking to create dynamic, immersive water surfaces in their projects.