True Alpha Sprite

True Alpha Sprite is an extension for True Alpha Transparency that brings Order-Independent Transparency, billboarding, depth correction, and proxy lighting to Unity's Sprite Renderer in URP.

Features:

• Order-Independent Transparency: Render sprites with True Alpha's OIT pipeline, allowing them to correctly overlap and intersect with other transparent objects and sprites.
• Lit & Unlit Shaders: Includes dedicated Lit and Unlit sprite shaders compatible with Unity's Sprite Renderer.
• Billboarding: Supports spherical and cylindrical billboarding, with configurable rotation limits.
• Depth Correction: Prevents billboarded sprites from clipping into walls and other surrounding geometry.
• Grounding Correction: Adjusts the depth of the lower part of a sprite to prevent feet and other geometry from clipping into the ground.
• Proxy Sprite Lighting: Uses a cylindrical proxy to calculate lighting normals, creating a sense of volume on otherwise flat sprites.

Requirements:

• True Alpha Transparency
• Unity 6.0 or newer
• Universal Render Pipeline (URP)
• Vulkan, DirectX 12 or Metal
• Forward or Forward+ rendering path

⚙️ The Problem

Transparency in URP struggles with intersecting geometry. This is especially problematic in 2.5D games, where sprites can overlap other sprites or transparent surfaces such as water.

Billboarded sprites have their own problems: their flat geometry can intersect nearby walls or the ground when rotated to face the camera.

Finally, standard sprite lighting treats sprites as flat surfaces, making it difficult to create convincing volume.

✅ Our Solution

True Alpha Sprite is a toolbox of shaders and techniques designed for sprites in 2.5D environments. It provides Order-Independent Transparency for sprites, along with billboarding, depth and grounding correction, and a cylindrical light proxy that creates the appearance of volume on flat sprites.

Perfect For

• 2.5D games
• Billboarded characters and NPCs
• Sprites rendered in water or other transparent surfaces
• Particle and sprite effects
• Foliage and vegetation

⚠️ True Alpha Sprite is an extension for True Alpha Transparency and will not work without it.

🛠️ Compatibilities

• Unity 6 and above
• Universal Render Pipeline using either Forward or Forward+

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