How To Make Realtime Reflection?

I want to bring my progress to the table so that no one thinks I tried nothing.

Mirror shader:

Code (CSharp):

1. Shader "Example/Specular" {
2.     Properties {
3.         _Color ("Color", Color) = (1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0)
4.         _Atten ("Atten", float) = 1
5.         _SpecColor ("Specular Color", Color) = (1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0)
6.         _Shininess ("Shininess", float) = 10
7.         _Reflection ("Reflection", float) = 0.5
8.         _Cube ("Cubemap", Cube) = "" {}
9.     }
10.     SubShader {
11.         Tags
12.         {
13.             "LightMode" = "ForwardBase"
14.         }
15.         Pass
16.         {
17.             CGPROGRAM
18.            
19.             #pragma vertex vert
20.             #pragma fragment frag
21.            
22.             float4 _Color;
23.             float _Atten;
24.             float4 _SpecColor;
25.             float _Shininess;
26.             float _Reflection;
27.            
28.             float4 _LightColor0;
29.  
30.             samplerCUBE _Cube;
31.            
32.             struct VertexInput {
33.                 float4 vertex : POSITION;
34.                 float3 normal : NORMAL;
35.             };
36.  
37.             struct VertexOutput {
38.                 float4 pos : POSITION;
39.                 float4 col : COLOR;
40.                 float3 view : TEXCOORD0;
41.                 float3 norm : TEXCOORD1;
42.             };
43.            
44.             VertexOutput vert (VertexInput input) {  
45.                 VertexOutput output;
46.  
47.                 // Matrix variables
48.                    float4x4 worldMatrix = _Object2World;
49.                 float4x4 localMatrix = _World2Object;
50.  
51.                 // Positions
52.                 float3 cameraPosition = mul (localMatrix, _WorldSpaceCameraPos);
53.                
54.                 // Directions
55.                 float3 normalDirection = normalize (mul (localMatrix, float4 (input.normal, 0.0)).xyz);
56.                 float3 lightDirection = normalize (_WorldSpaceLightPos0.xyz);
57.                 float3 viewDirection = normalize (cameraPosition - input.vertex);
58.  
59.                 // Diffuse
60.                 float3 diffuseLightColor = _LightColor0.rgb * max (0.0, dot (normalDirection, lightDirection));
61.                 float3 diffuseColor = _Color.rgb * diffuseLightColor * _Atten;
62.  
63.                 // Specular
64.                   float3 lightToView = normalize(lightDirection + viewDirection);
65.                   float3 specularLightColor = pow (max (0, dot (normalDirection, lightToView)), _Shininess) * pow (max (0, dot (reflect (-lightDirection, normalDirection), viewDirection)), _Shininess);
66.                   float3 specularColor = _SpecColor.rgb * specularLightColor * _Atten;
67.  
68.                   // Combination of all colors
69.                 float3 colorFinal = diffuseColor + specularColor + UNITY_LIGHTMODEL_AMBIENT;
70.  
71.                 // Apply variables calculated above
72.                 output.col = float4 (colorFinal, 1.0);
73.                 output.pos = mul (UNITY_MATRIX_MVP, input.vertex);
74.                 output.view = viewDirection;
75.                 output.norm = normalDirection;
76.                 return output;
77.             }
78.                
79.             float4 frag (VertexOutput output) : COLOR {  
80.                 float3 reflection = reflect (output.view, normalize (output.norm)) * _Reflection;
81.                 return texCUBE (_Cube, reflection) * _Reflection;
82.             }
83.             ENDCG
84.         }
85.     }
86. }

Reflection probe code:

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using System.Collections;
3.  
4. public class RenderProbe : MonoBehaviour {
5.  
6.     public ReflectionProbe probe;
7.  
8.     void Update () {
9.         probe.RenderProbe();
10.     }
11. }
12.  

Mirror Code:

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using System.Collections;
3.  
4. public class SetMirror : MonoBehaviour {
5.  
6.     public ReflectionProbe probe;
7.  
8.     void Update () {
9.         GetComponent <MeshRenderer> ().material.SetTexture ("_Cube", probe.texture);
10.     }
11. }
12.  

Outcome? As I get closer, the mirror gets more pixelated, and the reflection is upside down.

Another question while I'm here, how can I make my shader so that it can be semi-reflective?

 

Outcome screenshot:

http://imgur.com/0IzSYO6

Settings on reflection probe:

http://imgur.com/aRTlULo

What are those jagged lines running through the reflection?

 

Thats a horrible nigh atrocious way to do it no offense. Look it up on the asset store for a significantly more efficient way.

 

At a quick glance I can tell you that you'll get much better results if you stop normalizing stuff like view vector, light vector and direction to whatever vector in the vertex shader.

Calculate the difference (worldPos - whateverPos), pass it into pixel shader unnormalized and normalize within pixelshader.

However, you don't even need to write the shader.

Just use standard shader, make reflective material, and put it into reflection probe. Set probe to realtime.

---

The jagged lines are triangle edges. That's what you get when you normalize stuff in vertex shader. Normalized vectors (to light, to camera, to whatever) don't interpolate properly.

 

@neginfinity Hello,

Thanks for your quick reply, Im glad it is something I can fix. I am actually just writing the shader because I want to write a specific shader I had in mind in the future. But there is no use in trying to write a new shader if I have no understanding of how certain effects are performed. That is why Im trying to make a mirror shader.

Regarding the upside down effect, Mirrors don't actually act like that in real life, do you think it has to do with the normalizing?

Now that you mention it, I actually do see myself in the mirror properly when I get about 1 unit away from the surface.

One other thing, the pixelatedness? I have it on 256 in the reflection probe. It looks fine from a distance, but when my capsule player gets close it almost seems to "zoom" in on it if it were far away, rather than rendering it in higher detail when it gets close.

 

@neginfinity Hello again,

I took out the normalize words and nothing happened. Im not sure what to do now. I suppose Ill wait for a reply and in the meantime keep looking.