Thread by @FreyaHolmer

Dynamic ice & snow shader ❄️
Process breakdown in this thread! #madewithunity #unity3d

Snow buildup areas can be found by generating tangents in the mesh, where tangent.x will help us find the slope

−1 • Horizontal ceiling
±0 • Vertical
+1 • Horizontal ground

The range 0 to 1 is our snowiness! Here it is visualized, the full tangent and its x coordinate

We can then modulate this with various textures to make it look more snowy and natural! Giving it a snowy border in the front, as well as running a track through the center where the player will slide

The little bumps for snow are also done in the shader! We use the same mask as for the snow buildup, as well as a sinewave across the track, and then limiting it to the back with another mask. We then multiply all of these together and move vertices up based on this combined mask

There's still lots to be done, but, I'm pretty happy with the first art pass of this environment! If you're curious, here's a timelapse of the whole process:

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