Official Experimental Surface Gradient Bump Mapping

Welcome to the Experimental Surface Gradient Bump Mapping discussion thread. You can use this thread to ask for help, share feedback, and have discussions about the package, concepts, subgraphs, and samples.


Introduction

Surface Gradient Bump Mapping is a framework for the layering and compositing of bump maps in Shader Graph. This provides a universal and cohesive approach to stacking bump contributions with support for multiple formats and UV sets.

This is currently available in Unity as an experimental package containing Shader Graph subgraphs providing the following functionality:

• Accurate order-independent bump map compositing
• Supports any bump format - normal (tangent/object/world space), height and procedural
• Supports multiple UV sets
• Supports deformable geometry
• Supports tessellation
• Planar & Triplanar projected bump mapping
• Post-resolve normals
• Hex-tiled bump mapping

We also provide a collection of interactive tutorial samples demonstrating the concepts and workflow. This is a great starting point for those new to surface gradients.




Resources

• Package/subgraph documentation and changelog.
• Surface Gradient Bump Mapping Samples on the Unity Asset Store.

Requirements

• Surface Gradient Bump Mapping 0.2.0 requires Unity 2022.1 or later, it is compatible with both HDRP and URP.
• Surface Gradient Bump Mapping Samples 1.0 requires Unity 2022.1 and is for HDRP.

Getting started

For anyone starting out, we recommend checking out the Surface Gradient Bump Mapping Samples. This is a collection of interactive tutorial samples demonstrating the concepts and workflow of Surface Gradient Bump Mapping.

1. Create a new 3D (HDRP) project.
2. Add Surface Gradient Bump Mapping Samples via the Unity asset store.
3. Choose to Import the project.
4. Choose to Install/Upgrade dependencies, this will automatically install the main package.
5. Import all the sample assets and settings.
6. Open the Tutorial01_Stacking scene and hit play to begin the tutorial with audio narration.

To install the Surface Gradient Bump Mapping package manually:

1. Go to Window > Package Manager.
2. Press the + button and select “Add package by name…”
3. Enter com.unity.surface-gradient-bump-mapping and press Add.

Also, be sure to check out the Surface Gradient Workflow page for an introduction to using the subgraphs in Shader Graph.


Current state

This is an experimental package. We want to hear from the Unity community while still having the flexibility to make fundamental changes based on that feedback. Therefore, future package releases may modify subgraph interfaces or contain breaking changes.


What's next

Some of the workflows and functionality enabled by Surface Gradient Bump Mapping encourage some new and interesting approaches to asset creation. We are eager to hear your experience using these features and workflows as part of your asset creation process.


Feedback
In terms of feedback, we're especially looking for:

• Could the workflows benefit your asset creation and quality?
• Is there anything about these workflows that is unclear or missing?
• Are there any subgraphs that do not function as expected?
• Are there any features or improvements that you would like to see?
• Is the documentation clear?
• Were the tutorial samples clear and easy to follow?
• Any general feedback on using this in your Unity project (game/app/film/etc.)?

Please share your feedback in this thread.


How to report bugs

As this is an experimental package, for now, please report bugs directly in this thread.

For documentation errors, scroll to the bottom of the page where you found the issue and click “Report a problem on this page”.


Thank you for your interest, we're looking forward to your feedback!