Does the amount of particle emitters affect performance in unity if the approximate amount of particles is low?
For example if 10 emitters are emitting 1 particle each, how different is it from 1 emitter emitting 10 particles?
Shuriken systems? Overhead cost will be concerned with memory each requires ~50kb runtime
make a torch using 5 systems and env team copies it x200 in a zone = Yes that is 49 mb of runtime memory
node count of course exists (e.g. you do not want to try to build/load 65k shuriken systems)
10 billboards 1 CPU system
10 billboards 10 CPU systems; → CPU does more work
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yes Shuriken systems, thank you very much, this information was really helpful, in that case what would you suggest to use instead of Shurinken system for a simple static gradient glow?
Im thinking about doing it with quads but in that case I’ll need countless materials for each and every form, shape and color. Is there an alternative solution ?
Sprite renderer + a Constraint if you need aim/look at/face camera (Unity - Manual: Constraints)
all glows can be dynamically packed to an atlas so they all use the same mat, the sprite renderer also has a tight cutout mesh creation system so it attempts to save overdraw, or use sprite mode Multi and make it manually in unity
Unity - Manual: Sprite (2D and UI) Import Settings reference
also the Line Renderer (Unity - Manual: Line Renderer component) adds some options +its own 2D aim-at-view
using the MeshRendererquad will need dynamic batching if you plan on aim-at-camera. i would avoid using mesh filter +mesh renderer
there is also Glow/lens flare
Lens Flare component is handled like a Sprite, it has this ‘fade-offf’ feature though if something obscures it, which can be useful
post-processing attempts or off screen buffer at 1/10 res etc, they can work but this is a TechArt/shader Engineer task to setup for mobile wisely
i also recommend for glowing/flares to avoid compression,
i use a lot of single channel B&W images (Alpha8 format) or just small 32bit images, keeping res <500, the bilinear filtering + uncompressed images can be fullscreen and look great… FAR better than some 1024 with PVRTC4bpp
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I am mainly using shuriken system vor weapon or armor effects, to elevate shiny parts or add flickering lights, in average its 10-20 shuriken systems per weapon or armor. and its a lot, but I cant find any alternative ways.
spawning highlights i use an Animator controller with animation(s), and keyframe sprites, trails/lines, material parameters with geo and shaders. I dont use lensflares due to how specific it operates