SoftMaskForUGUI

⚠️ NOTE: Do not use the obsolete tags and branches to reference the package. They will be removed in near future. ⚠️

UI Soft Mask is a smooth masking component for Unity UI (uGUI) elements.

<< Description | WebGL Demo | Installation | Usage | For Your Custom Shader | Contributing >>

Description

By using SoftMask instead of the default Mask component, you can beautifully represent the rounded edges of UI elements.

Features

• SoftMask is compatible with Mask.
• You can adjust the visible part.
  
• Text, Image, RawImage can be used as a masking.
• Support multiple-sprites and SpriteAtlas.
• Support up to 4 nested soft masks.
  
• Support scroll view.
  
• Support inversed soft mask.
  
• Support overlay, camera space and world space.
  
• (Option) Raycast is filtered only for the visible part.
  
• Contain soft maskable UI shader.
• Support soft masks in your custom shaders by adding just 3 lines. For details, please see Development Note.
• Adjust soft mask buffer size to improve performance.
• Convert existing Mask to SoftMask from context menu.
  
• Render the soft mask buffer only when needed to improve performance.
• Add a SoftMaskable component to the child UI elements of SoftMask from the inspector.
  
• Preview soft mask buffer in inspector.
  
• Make multiple holes on one background by 'Parts of parent' option.
  
• Support TextMeshPro

Components

Component	Description	Screenshot
SoftMask	Use instead of Mask for smooth masking. Show Mask Graphic: Show the graphic that is associated with the Mask render area. Desampling Rate: The desampling rate for soft mask buffer. The larger the value, the better the performance but the lower the quality. Softness: The value used by the soft mask to select the area of influence defined over the soft mask's graphic. Ignore Parent: Should the soft mask ignore parent soft masks? Part Of Parent: Is the soft mask a part of parent soft mask?
SoftMaskable	Add this component to Graphic under SoftMask for smooth masking. Use Stencil: Use stencil buffer to mask. If disabled, the stencil buffer is ignored. RaycastFilter: Use soft-masked raycast target. This option is expensive. Mask Interaction: The interaction for each mask layers.

Demo

WebGL Demo

Installation

Requirement

• Unity 2017.1 or later (2018.x, 2019.x and 2020.x are included)
• No other SDK are required

Using OpenUPM (for Unity 2018.3 or later)

This package is available on OpenUPM. You can install it via openupm-cli.

openupm add com.coffee.softmask-for-ugui

Using Git (for Unity 2018.3 or later)

Find the manifest.json file in the Packages folder of your project and edit it to look like this:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "com.coffee.softmask-for-ugui": "https://github.com/mob-sakai/SoftMaskForUGUI.git",
    ...
  },
}

To update the package, change suffix #{version} to the target version.

• e.g. "com.coffee.softmask-for-ugui": "https://github.com/mob-sakai/SoftMaskForUGUI.git#1.0.0",

Or, use UpmGitExtension to install and update the package.

For Unity 2018.2 or earlier

1. Download a source code zip file from Releases page
2. Extract it
3. Import it into the following directory in your Unity project
   • Packages (It works as an embedded package. For Unity 2018.1 or later)
   • Assets (Legacy way. For Unity 2017.1 or later)

How to play demo

• For Unity 2019.1 or later
  • Open Package Manager window and select UI Soft Mask package in package list and click Demo > Import in project button
• For Unity 2018.4 or earlier
  • Click Assets/Samples/UISoftMask/Import Demo from menu

The assets will be imported into Assets/Samples/UI Soft Mask/{version}/Demo.
Open UISoftMask_Demo scene and play it.

Usage

1. Add a SoftMask component instead of Mask component.
   Or, convert an existing Mask component to SoftMask component from the context menu.
   
2. Add a SoftMaskable components to the child UI elements of the SoftMask component.
   
   Or, add a SoftMaskable components from the inspector of the SoftMask component.
   
3. Adjust softness setting of SoftMask.
   
4. Enjoy!

Usage with TextMeshPro

To use SoftMask with TextMeshPro, import a sample asset.

• For Unity 2019.1 or later
  • Open Package Manager window and select UI Soft Mask package in package list and click TextMeshPro Support > Import in project button
• For Unity 2018.4 or earlier
  • Click Assets/Samples/UISoftMask/Import TextMeshPro Support from menu

The assets will be imported into Assets/Samples/UI Soft Mask/{version}/TextMeshPro Support.

NOTE: You must import TMP Essential Resources before using. They include shaders, fonts, etc.

NOTE: If the shader error is not resolved, reimport the shader. Or, import the TextMeshPro Support again.

Support soft masks with your custom shaders

Only a few steps are needed to support soft mask in your custom shaders!

1. Duplicate your shader file and add the (SoftMaskable) suffix to the file name.

Your_Custom_Shader.shader
-> Your_Custom_Shader (SoftMaskable).shader

1. Modify the shader name (defined at the beginning of the shader file) as follows:

• Add Hidden/ prefix
• Add (SoftMaskable) suffix

Shader "UI/Your_Custom_Shader"
-> Shader "Hidden/UI/Your_Custom_Shader (SoftMaskable)"

1. Add #pragma and #include directives, where SOFTMASK_EDITOR is an editor-only keyword and is not included in the build. If you didn't use package manager to install, include SoftMask.cginc in the appropriate path instead.

#include "Packages/com.coffee.softmask-for-ugui/Shaders/SoftMask.cginc"
#pragma shader_feature __ SOFTMASK_EDITOR

2. Apply a soft mask in the fragment shader.
   This operation determines the final alpha according to the soft mask buffer.

• IN.vertex: the clip position
• IN.worldPosition: the world position

color.a *= SoftMask(IN.vertex, IN.worldPosition);

As an example of implementation, please see UI-Default-SoftMask.shader.

Contributing

Issues

Issues are very valuable to this project.

• Ideas are a valuable source of contributions others can make
• Problems show where this project is lacking
• With a question you show where contributors can improve the user experience

Pull Requests

Pull requests are, a great way to get your ideas into this repository.
See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Support

This is an open source project that I am developing in my spare time.
If you like it, please support me.
With your support, I can spend more time on development. :)

License

• MIT
• © UTJ/UCL

Author

• mob-sakai

See Also

• GitHub page : https://github.com/mob-sakai/SoftMaskForUGUI
• Releases : https://github.com/mob-sakai/SoftMaskForUGUI/releases
• Issue tracker : https://github.com/mob-sakai/SoftMaskForUGUI/issues
• Change log : https://github.com/mob-sakai/SoftMaskForUGUI/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md