Realtime Reflections in a 3D Pixel Art Scene

Date of Recording: 2020-10-19
Running in a 3D engine gives us the possibility to have perfect water reflections for very little effort. In this case, a custom orthographic light probe is generated for the water surface, which captures the reflection from the perspective of the viewer. The water shader then blends this reflection with the refraction for a final look.
The artist can control the blending colors and transparencies in order to fine tune the effect in different lighting conditions. For now, I am doubling as the artist, and I am fairly happy with how the results turned out. The water looks really nice when paired with the dynamic clouds.
Water shader: • 3D Pixel Art Water Shader
Cloud shader: • Cloud Shader with a Pi...

[@danielbordeianu9240]

now that right there, that is beautiful

[@na7uralone387]

water effects are always my favourite thing and you really nailed it here, this looks gorgeous!

[@msmeraglia]

you should really do a write up on this technique, not sure if you have a blog or not?

[@laurawadsworth873]

prbably my favorite art style for any game

[@EudaderurScheiss]

dude i just watched your vids, first i was like oh nice looking 2d world. im wondering how you did the gras ani.. holy *** thats 3d.
im a hobby dev myself and i have to say amazing work! this look could be used for any oldschool pixel game. a new pokemon whatever ppl would buy it.
love it

[@lucasbird6367]

Very beautiful! Congratulations, keep going! :)

[@tonmate7175]

This is fucking beautiful.

[@oliveryt7168]

Amazing looking area.

[@veryredfumoze]

And you just earned a subscriber

[@scottbowser702]

You have done some awesome work with your custom engine. Where did you learn to do all this?

[@t3ssel8r]

thanks, I think I just picked it up as I went along for the most part, but the resources that I followed most closely for the unity integration were the catlike coding articles.

[@phoenixnight9237]

You know those color blobs in steven universe? They could be an easy way to make the water look incredible. And very stylized.

[@DcCoO]

could you elaborate a little bit about this orthographic light probe? I'm trying to achieve reflections on the water of my top-down orthographic game but I'm struggling. Is it baked? Will it reflect realtime moving objects? Where can I learn about this?
thanks for sharing this awesome work!

[@t3ssel8r]

essentially just a second camera mirrored about the water surface plane, with the same camera intrinsics as the view camera. It's a pretty popular method.

[@VeeZzz123]

wow

[@Street_Cyberman]

😍 😍 😍 😍

[@Manas-co8wl]

I really do like this look. Is there an easier way to replicate this I wonder

[@arthurangenendt8959]

that water... jeez...

[@megitsune714]

Are the reflections screenspace? Do you think ray traced reflections would be possible? (Asking for 3rd person camera game in this style, screenspace can look goofy at the edges of the screen)

[@mhx4453]

Could you share how you realize the displacement of the reflection texture? I noticed that there is no displacement at the intersection of the water surface and the object. I have been thinking for a long time and have not thought of how to achieve it... I am new to shaders.. your work is amazing, I can't remember how many times I watched this video haha

[@t3ssel8r]

I think I referenced the catlike coding tutorial on water reflections

[@mhx4453]

@@t3ssel8r Thank you so much for your help!

[@slicecut_]

круто

[@wagwan0]

this is , ... eureka

[@kodd10]

"So many counteracting words in the title"

[@t3ssel8r]

are you.. tantalized?

[@Dawood.k]

Which software ?

[@t3ssel8r]

unity

[@Gounesh]

Wen RTX?

[@froggydohdoggy5216]

what

[@oliveryt7168]

Amazing looking area.