Unity Shader Programming: Create & Optimize

Instructor: EDUCBA

Access provided by Grow with Google - Internal Portal

5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

2 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

5 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

2 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Create and customize shaders using Unity’s rendering tools.
Implement realistic lighting and advanced visual effects.
Optimize shader performance for high-quality game visuals.

Skills you'll gain

Tools you'll learn

Unity Engine

Details to know

Shareable certificate

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Assessments

21 assignments

Taught in English

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There are 5 modules in this course

By the end of this course, learners will be able to design custom shaders, implement realistic lighting models, optimize performance, and apply advanced screen effects in Unity. They will master vertex and fragment shaders, create water, glass, and holographic effects, and build advanced shaders such as fur and heat maps.

This comprehensive course takes you from shader fundamentals to advanced rendering, guiding you through essential shader properties, variables, and texture applications. You will explore Unity’s built-in lighting models, implement custom shading such as Phong and Blinn-Phong, and integrate global illumination with reflection and light probes for realism. Through hands-on projects, you will animate vertices, simulate snow and explosions, and craft dynamic screen-space effects including film grain, blend modes, and night vision. What makes this course unique is its structured balance of theory and practice, combining shader optimization with advanced creative effects. Whether you are building games, simulations, or immersive experiences, this course equips you with the technical depth and creative control to push Unity’s graphics capabilities further.

This module introduces the fundamentals of Unity shaders, including the shader pipeline, essential properties, and variable handling. Learners will explore how to declare properties, use shader variables, and build simple shaders with transparency and textures to establish a strong foundation in shader programming.

What's included

18 videos4 assignments

18 videos Total 157 minutes

Introduction to Unity 5 Shader Programming 7 minutes
Theory - Creating A Basic Shader 10 minutes
Lab - Creating A Basic Shader 10 minutes
Migrating from Unity4 to Unity 5 Shaers 7 minutes
Migrating from Unity4 to Unity 5 Shaers Continues 6 minutes
Understanding Shader Properties 12 minutes
Create Properties 7 minutes
Create Subshader Variable 6 minutes
Using Packed Arrays 11 minutes
Use Albedo Color 8 minutes
Creating A Scrolling Texture 10 minutes
Water Effect Shader 11 minutes
Creating A Normal Map Shader 8 minutes
Normal Map Test Shader 11 minutes
Bump Intensity 10 minutes
Creating A Transparent Shader 10 minutes
Creating a Holographic Shader 7 minutes
Silhouette Shader 6 minutes

4 assignments Total 60 minutes

Graded-Shader Basics and Properties 30 minutes
Getting Started with Unity Shaders 10 minutes
Shader Properties and Variables 10 minutes
Texture and Transparency Effects 10 minutes

This module covers Unity’s lighting models and explores how to blend textures, implement custom shading models, and use probes for advanced illumination. Learners will understand how lighting interacts with surfaces and how to integrate reflection and light probes for realistic environments.

What's included

18 videos4 assignments

18 videos Total 152 minutes

Blending Textures Using Lerp 10 minutes
Blending Textures Using Lerp Continues 10 minutes
Drawing Circle in Terrain 10 minutes
Mat Radius 11 minutes
Lighting Models 5 minutes
Writing the First Custom Lighting 10 minutes
Writing Toon Shader 7 minutes
Writing Toon Shader Continues 8 minutes
Writing Phong Shader 9 minutes
Phong Secular Shader 7 minutes
Writing Blinn Phong Shader 8 minutes
Blinn Phong Shader - Half Vector 5 minutes
Writing Anisotropic Specular Shader 10 minutes
Writing Anisotropic Specular Shader Continues 10 minutes
GI And Light Baking 10 minutes
More on GI And Light Baking 7 minutes
Creating Reflection Probe 10 minutes
Light Probe Groups 5 minutes

4 assignments Total 60 minutes

Graded-Lighting Models and Probes 30 minutes
Texture Blending and Terrain 10 minutes
Custom Lighting and Shading Models 10 minutes
Global Illumination and Probes 10 minutes

This module focuses on vertex and fragment shader development. Learners will animate and extrude vertices, create volumetric effects, and explore fragment shaders with GrabPass, glass, and water rendering techniques for dynamic visual effects.

What's included

17 videos5 assignments

17 videos Total 144 minutes

Introduction to Vertex Function 11 minutes
Animating Vertices 10 minutes
Animating Vertices Continues 3 minutes
Extruding Vertices 8 minutes
Extrusion Shader 5 minutes
Creating Snow Shader 8 minutes
Creating Snow Shader Continues 8 minutes
Volumetric Explosions 12 minutes
Volumetric Explosions - SG Program 10 minutes
First Fragment Shader 8 minutes
First Fragment Shader Continues 10 minutes
Use of Grab Pass Shader 9 minutes
How Grab Pass Shader Works 2 minutes
Writing a Glass Shader 10 minutes
Glass Stained Normals 8 minutes
Writing 2D Water Shader 10 minutes
More 2D Water Shader 11 minutes

5 assignments Total 70 minutes

Graded-Vertex and Fragment Shaders 30 minutes
Vertex Functions and Extrusions 10 minutes
Snow and Volumetric Effects 10 minutes
Fragment and Grab Pass Shaders 10 minutes
Glass and Water Shaders 10 minutes

This module emphasizes shader optimization and performance profiling. Learners will apply post-processing image effects, explore blending modes, film effects, and advanced night vision shaders while balancing visual quality with runtime efficiency.

What's included

25 videos5 assignments

25 videos Total 214 minutes

Shader Adjustment 10 minutes
Optimizing the Shader 10 minutes
Using the Profiler 7 minutes
Using the Profiler Continues 7 minutes
Writing a Mobile Shader 9 minutes
Optimize Shaders 4 minutes
Introduction to Screen Effects 7 minutes
Custom Shader Image Effects 9 minutes
Changing the Screen Effects 6 minutes
Depth Effect 10 minutes
Brightness Saturation 7 minutes
Contrast 8 minutes
Contrast Continues 10 minutes
Blend Modes 10 minutes
Blend Mode Image Effect 10 minutes
Overlay Image Effect 9 minutes
Old Film Effect 8 minutes
More on Old Film Effect 9 minutes
Old Film Effect Shader 12 minutes
Effect Final Color 7 minutes
Old Film Effect Explained 6 minutes
Night Vision Effect 9 minutes
More on Night Vision Effect 12 minutes
Blend Effect 12 minutes
Night Version Effect Shader 5 minutes

5 assignments Total 70 minutes

Graded-Shader Optimization and Screen Effects 30 minutes
Shader Adjustments and Profiling 10 minutes
Image Effects and Adjustments 10 minutes
Blend and Film Effects 10 minutes
Night Vision and Advanced Blending 10 minutes

This module explores advanced shader programming concepts, including custom includes, fur rendering, and heat map shaders. Learners will create reusable shader components and implement specialized effects for cutting-edge Unity graphics.