UIEffect v5

<< 📝 Description | 📌 Key Features | 🎮 Demo | ⚙ Installation | 🔄 Upgrading from v4 to v5 | 🚀 Usage | 🤝 Contributing >>

⚠️ This README is for v5. For v4, please visit here.

📝 Description

"Decorate your uGUI, simply and powerfully."
UIEffect is an open-source package that allows you to intuitively apply rich UI effects directly from the Inspector or via code.
Combine various filters, such as grayscale, blur, and dissolve, to decorate your UI with a unique visual style!

• 📌 Key Features
• 🎮 Demo
• ⚙ Installation
  • Install via OpenUPM
  • Install via UPM (with Package Manager UI)
  • Install via UPM (Manually)
  • Install as Embedded Package
  • Additional Resource Imports
• 🔄 Upgrading from v4 to v5
• 🚀 Usage
  • Getting Started
  • Component: UIEffect
  • Component: UIEffectTweener
  • Component: UIEffectReplica
  • Usage with TextMeshPro
  • Runtime/Editor Preset for UIEffect
  • Usage with Code
  • Project Settings
  • ⚠️ Limitations
• 🤝 Contributing
  • Issues
  • Pull Requests
  • Support
• License
• Author
• See Also

📌 Key Features

• UIEffect is out-of-the-box!: Easily apply effects by adjusting parameters directly in the inspector.
• Rich effect combinations: Decorate your UI with a variety of effects, such as grayscale, blur, and dissolve, by combining multiple filters and parameters.
• Efficient shader builds: Only the shader variants in use are built, resulting in shorter build times.
• URP/HDRP/VR support: Compatible with URP, HDRP, and VR environments.
• Runtime and editor presets: Presets are available both at runtime and in the editor.
• TextMeshPro support: Supports TextMeshPro, including <font> and <sprite> tags.
• UIEffectReplica Component: Duplicate effects and apply them to multiple UI elements at once.
• UIEffectTweener Component: A simple tweener component to play, stop, pause, and resume effects.
• AnimationClip support: Allows control of effect animations using AnimationClips.
• v4 compatible components (optional): For easy upgrading with minimal changes, compatible v4 components are available optionally.

🎮 Demo

WebGL Demo

⚙ Installation

This package requires Unity 2020.3 or later.

Install via OpenUPM

• This package is available on OpenUPM package registry.
• This is the preferred method of installation, as you can easily receive updates as they're released.
• If you have openupm-cli installed, then run the following command in your project's directory:

  openupm add com.coffee.ui-effect
  

• To update the package, use Package Manager UI (Window > Package Manager) or run the following command with @{version}:

  openupm add [email protected]
  

Install via UPM (with Package Manager UI)

• Click Window > Package Manager to open Package Manager UI.
• Click + > Add package from git URL... and input the repository URL: https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect.git?path=Packages/src
  
• To update the package, change suffix #{version} to the target version.
  • e.g. https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect.git?path=Packages/src#5.0.0

Install via UPM (Manually)

• Open the Packages/manifest.json file in your project. Then add this package somewhere in the dependencies block:

  {
    "dependencies": {
      "com.coffee.ui-effect": "https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect.git?path=Packages/src",
      ...
    }
  }

• To update the package, change suffix #{version} to the target version.

  • e.g. "com.coffee.ui-effect": "https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect.git?path=Packages/src#5.0.0",

Install as Embedded Package

1. Download a source code zip file from Releases and extract it.
2. Place <extracted_dir>/Packages/src directory in your project's Packages directory.
   

• You can rename the src directory.
• If you want to fix bugs or add features, install it as an embedded package.
• To update the package, you need to re-download it and replace the contents.

Additional Resource Imports

UIEffect includes additional resources to import.

• 🔄 Upgrading from v4 to v5
• Usage with TextMeshPro

🔄 Upgrading from v4 to v5

If upgrading from UIEffect v4 to v5, note the following breaking changes:

1. If you are installing via git URL, add ?path=Packages/src. The default branch is changed upm to main.

   // v4
   "com.coffee.ui-effect": "https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect.git",
   "com.coffee.ui-effect": "https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect.git#upm",
   
   // v5
   "com.coffee.ui-effect": "https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect.git?path=Packages/src",

2. Import the v4 Compatible Components sample from the Package Manager window.
   

3. All v4 components are obsolete.

• v4 UIEffect component is now UIEffectV4 component. Change the reference in the code.
• The effectArea property in some components are not supported in v5.
• UIShadow, UIGradient, UIFlip components are not supported in v5.
• v4 components can be converted to v5 UIEffect component by selecting Convert To UIEffect from the context menu.
  

🚀 Usage

Getting Started

1. Install the package.

2. Add a UIEffect component to a UI element (Image, RawImage, Text, TextMeshProUGUI, etc...) from the Add Component in the inspector or Component > UI > UIEffect menu.
   

3. Adjust the effect filters and parameters in the inspector.
   

4. Enjoy!

Component: UIEffect

The UIEffect component applies visual effects to UI elements, allowing various effects to be achieved by combining multiple filters.

• Tone Filter: None, Grayscale, Sepia, Nega, Retro, Posterize
• Tone Intensity: 0.0 (no effect) - 1.0 (full effect).
• Color Filter: None, Multiply, Additive, Subtractive, Replace, Multiply Luminance, Multiply Additive, Hsv Modifier, Contrast
• Color Intensity: 0.0 (no effect) - 1.0 (full effect).
• Sampling Filter: None, Blur Fast, Blur Medium, Blur Detail, Pixelation, Rgb Shift, Edge Luminescence, Edge Alpha
• Sampling Intensity: 0.0 (no effect) - 1.0 (full effect).
• Transition Filter: None, Fade, Cutoff, Dissolve, Shiny, Mask, Melt, Burn
• Transition Rate: 0.0 (no effect) - 1.0 (full effect).
• Transition Tex: The texture used for the transition filter.- Transition Width: The width where the transition color is applied.
• Transition Softness: The softness of the boundary for the transition color.
• Transition Color Filter/Transition Color: Specifies the transition color.
• Target Mode: None, Hue, Luminance
  • Restricts the effect application area based on hue or luminance.
• Target Range: The range of target hue or luminance.
• Target Softness: The softness of the target boundary.
• Blend Type: Alpha Blend, Multiply, Additive, Soft Additive, Multiply Additive, Custom (SrcBlend, DstBlend)
• Shadow Mode: None, Shadow, Shadow3, Outline, Outline8, Mirror
• Shadow Distance: Distance of the shadow or outline.
• Shadow Iteration: Number of times the shadow or outline is applied.
• Shadow Fade: Alpha value of the shadow or outline.
• Shadow Effect On Origin: Applies effects to meshes other than shadows.
• Mirror Reflection: Distance of the mirrored image.
• Mirror Offset: Offset for the mirrored image.
• Mirror Scale: Scale of the mirrored image.

Component: UIEffectTweener

The UIEffectTweener component animates the effect, enabling easy control over effect animations without the need for an AnimationClip.

• Culling Mask: Tone, Color, Sampling, Transition
• Direction: Forward (0.0 -> 1.0), Backward (1.0 -> 0.0)
• Delay: The delay time before starting the animation.
• Duration: The duration of the animation.
• Interval: The interval time between the animation.
• Curve: The curve of the animation.
• Restart On Enable: Play the animation automatically when the component is enabled.
• Wrap Mode: Once, Loop, PingPongOnce, PingPongLoop
• Update Mode: Normal, UnscaledTime, Manual

Component: UIEffectReplica

The UIEffectReplica component applies visual effects to UI elements by replicating the settings of another UIEffect component. This allows the same effect to be applied across multiple UI elements simultaneously.

• Target: The target UIEffect component to replicate.
• Use Target Transform: Use the target's transform for some effects.
  
  
  

Usage with TextMeshPro

UIEffect supports TextMeshProUGUI elements. To use UIEffect with TextMeshPro, follow these steps:

1. First, you must import TMP Essential Resources before using.
   

2. Open the Package Manager window and select the UI Soft Mask package in the package list and click the TextMeshPro Support > Import button.
   ⚠️ If you are using Unity 2023.2/6000.0+ or TextMeshPro 3.2/4.0+, click the TextMeshPro Support (Unity 6) > Import button instead.
   

3. The assets will be imported under Assets/Samples/UI Effect/{version}.

4. Add the UIEffect component to a TextMeshProUGUI element and adjust the effect settings. The <font> and <sprite> tags are also supported.
   

Runtime/Editor Preset for UIEffect

You can create and use presets for UIEffect components.

• In the UIEffect component inspector, click "Save As" button to save the current settings as an editor preset.
• Click "Load" button to apply an editor preset.
• In the Project Settings, you can register saved editor presets as runtime presets.
• Runtime presets can be loaded using the UIEffect.LoadPreset(presetName) method.

Usage with Code

You can control the effect settings and animations via code.

var effect = graphic.AddComponent<UIEffect>();

// Apply a preset
effect.LoadPreset("Dissolve");

// Set the effect parameters
effect.transitionWidth = 0.1f;
effect.transitionColor = Color.red;

// Add a tweener
var tweener = graphic.AddComponent<UIEffectTweener>();
tweener.cullingMask = UICullingMask.Tone;
tweener.wrapMode = UIWrapMode.PingPongLoop;

// Warm up the shader variant collection.
UIEffectProjectSettings.shaderVariantCollection.WarmUp();

Project Settings

You can adjust the project-wide settings for UIEffect. (Edit > Project Settings > UI > UIEffect)

• Transform Sensitivity: Low, Medium, High
  • Set the sensitivity of the transformation when Use Target Transform is enabled in UIEffectReplica component.
• Runtime Presets: A list of presets that can be loaded at runtime. Load them using UIEffect.LoadPreset(presetName) method.
• Fallback Variant Behavior: Specifies the behavior when an unregistered shader variant is used in the editor.
  • Register Variant: Adds the variant to Registered Variants for runtime use.
  • LogError: Outputs a error and adds it to Unregistered Variants.
• Unregistered Variants: A list of shader variants that are not registered. Use "+" button to add variants.
• Registered Variants: A list of shader variants available at runtime. Use "-" button to remove unused variants, reducing build time and file size.

⚠️ Limitations

Here are the limitations of UIEffect:

• Shader variants used at runtime must be registered in the Project Settings.
• When using UIEffect with TextMeshProUGUI, SamplingFilter.BlurMedium and SamplingFilter.BlurDetail are not supported due to performance considerations.
  • These will automatically fall back to SamplingFilter.BlurFast.

🤝 Contributing

Issues

Issues are incredibly valuable to this project:

• Ideas provide a valuable source of contributions that others can make.
• Problems help identify areas where this project needs improvement.
• Questions indicate where contributors can enhance the user experience.

Pull Requests

Pull requests offer a fantastic way to contribute your ideas to this repository.
Please refer to CONTRIBUTING.md and use develop branch for development.

Support

This is an open-source project developed during my spare time.
If you appreciate it, consider supporting me.
Your support allows me to dedicate more time to development. 😊

License

• MIT
• © UTJ/UCL

Author

• mob-sakai

See Also

• GitHub page : https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect
• Releases : https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect/releases
• Issue tracker : https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect/issues
• Change log : https://github.com/mob-sakai/UIEffect/blob/main/Packages/src/CHANGELOG.md