Darklines Ball: Alien Creature with Ultimate Shader

Darkline Ball is part of the Darkline series assets. This asset includes 5 Level of Detail (LOD) levels. The mesh features 8 material slots, enabling the use of different materials simultaneously for a more dynamic and potentially chaotic look.

Darkline assets represent alien life forms characterized by black 'drawing' aesthetics, featuring thin/smooth lines or tangled/bold black tentacles. This distinctive visual style is achieved through a highly configurable shader.

The primary and unique feature of this asset is its cohesive visual output, resulting from the combined functionality of the mesh and shader. The material is not static or pre-textured; instead, it utilizes a single tileable texture and URP shadergraph (with an included HDRP version) to generate a wide range of procedural looks. Please refer to the provided preview video for a demonstration.

Detailed shader capabilities are showcased in this review video, which applies to all Darkline series assets using the same material.

The Darkline series Shader provides the following customization options:

• Noise movements to animate lines.
• Bulge waves - light wave effects.
• Thickness adjustment.
• Emission control.
• Separate Base Color (BC) and Emission Hue settings.
• Smoothness adjustment.
• Metallicness control.
• Normal map application.
• Randomization options (v2: implemented across various settings as min-max range).
• Texture manipulation, including movement (crawling effect) and scaling.
• Both graphs included URP and HRDP
• Shader v2 enhancements: Fresnel effect for color variation and depth-based emission, numerous setting additions, and UI group improvements for ease of use. Overall, the shader offers enhanced flexibility and visual quality.

These shader features are applied using 4 mixable mask types:

• Along lines.
• Depth from surface.
• Random per line (individual values per line).
• Head to limb gradient.
• Additional thickness masks for limb and hair/head areas.

These combined features allow for a broad range of visual styles, from dark, nightmarish effects to intricate, cybernetic designs, depending on the chosen settings.

Please note:

• This asset is a character, not a material pack.
• The shader is specifically configured for Darkline meshes and may not function correctly with other mesh types. Significant adjustments would be required for custom meshes.
• This project is primarily a URP project, with an included HDRP shadergraph.