ParticleEffectForUGUI

This plugin provide a component to render particle effect for uGUI in Unity 2018.2+.
The particle rendering is maskable and sortable, without Camera, RenderTexture or Canvas.

<< Description | WebGL Demo | Download | Usage | Development Note | Change log >>

What's new? Please see See changelog

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Description

This plugin uses new APIs MeshBake/MashTrailBake (added with Unity 2018.2) to render particles by CanvasRenderer. You can mask and sort particles for uGUI without Camera, RenderTexture, Canvas.

Compares this "Baking mesh" approach with the conventional approach:
(This scene is included in the package.)

Approach	Good	Bad	Screenshot
Baking mesh (UIParticle)	Rendered as is. Maskable. Sortable. Less objects.	Requires Unity 2018.2+. Requires UI shaders to use Mask.
Do nothing	Rendered as is.	Looks like a glitch. Not maskable. Not sortable.
Convert particle to UIVertex (UIParticleSystem)	Maskable. Sortable. Less objects.	Adjustment is difficult. Requires UI shaders. Difficult to adjust scale. Force hierarchy scalling. Simulation results are incorrect. Trail, rotation of transform, time scaling are not supported. Generate heavy GC every frame.
Use Canvas to sort	Rendered as is. Sortable.	You must to manage sorting orders. Not maskable. More batches.
Use RenderTexture	Maskable. Sortable.	Requires Camera and RenderTexture. Difficult to adjust position and size. Quality depends on the RenderTexture's setting.

Features

• Sort particle effects with uGUI
• No Camera, RenderTexture or Canvas are required
• Masking with Mask or RectMask2D
• Easy to use
• Support Trail module
• Change alpha with CanvasGroup
• Scaling independent of Transform
• No heavy allocation every frame
• All ParticleSystem.ScalingModes and all Canvas.RenderModes are supported. They look almost the same in all modes.

Demo

WebGL Demo

Usage

1. Download ParticleEffectForUGUI.unitypackage from Releases.
2. Import the package into your Unity project. Select Import Package > Custom Package from the Assets menu.
3. Add your particle effect to canvas.
4. (Option) If you want to mask particles, set a UI shader such as "UI/UIAdditive" to material for ParticleSystem.
   
5. Add UIParticle component to root particle system of your effect from Add Component in inspector.
   
6. If your effect consists of multiple ParticleSystems, click "Fix".
   
7. Adjust the Scale property to change the size of the effect.
   
8. Enjoy!

Requirement

• Unity 2018.2+ (Tested in Unity 2018.2.0f2)
• No other SDK are required

Development Note

License

• MIT
• © UTJ/UCL

Author

mob-sakai

See Also

• GitHub page : https://github.com/mob-sakai/ParticleEffectForUGUI
• Releases : https://github.com/mob-sakai/ParticleEffectForUGUI/releases
• Issue tracker : https://github.com/mob-sakai/ParticleEffectForUGUI/issues
• Current project : https://github.com/mob-sakai/ParticleEffectForUGUI/projects/1
• Change log : https://github.com/mob-sakai/ParticleEffectForUGUI/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md