Reflective Parallax Diffuse

Note. Unity 5 introduced the Standard Shader which replaces this shaderA program that runs on the GPU. More info
See in Glossary.

Reflective Properties

Note. Unity 5 introduced the Standard Shader which replaces this shader.

This shader will simulate reflective surfaces such as cars, metal objects etc. It requires an environment CubemapA collection of six square textures that can represent the reflections in an environment or the skybox drawn behind your geometry. The six squares form the faces of an imaginary cube that surrounds an object; each face represents the view along the directions of the world axes (up, down, left, right, forward and back). More info
See in Glossary which will define what exactly is reflected. The main texture’s alpha channel defines the strength of reflection on the object’s surface. Any sceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info
See in Glossary lights will add illumination on top of what is reflected.

Parallax Normal mapped Properties

Parallax Normal mapped is the same as regular Normal mapped, but with a better simulation of “depth”. The extra depth effect is achieved through the use of a Height Map. The Height Map is contained in the alpha channel of the Normal mapA type of Bump Map texture that allows you to add surface detail such as bumps, grooves, and scratches to a model which catch the light as if they are represented by real geometry.
See in Glossary. In the alpha, black is zero depth and white is full depth. This is most often used in bricks/stones to better display the cracks between them.

The Parallax mapping technique is pretty simple, so it can have artifacts and unusual effects. Specifically, very steep height transitions in the Height Map should be avoided. Adjusting the Height value in the InspectorA Unity window that displays information about the currently selected GameObject, asset or project settings, allowing you to inspect and edit the values. More info
See in Glossary can also cause the object to become distorted in an odd, unrealistic way. For this reason, it is recommended that you use gradual Height Map transitions or keep the Height slider toward the shallow end.

Diffuse Properties

Diffuse computes a simple (Lambertian) lighting model. The lighting on the surface decreases as the angle between it and the light decreases. The lighting depends only on this angle, and does not change as the cameraA component which creates an image of a particular viewpoint in your scene. The output is either drawn to the screen or captured as a texture. More info
See in Glossary moves or rotates around.

Performance

Generally, this shader is on the more expensive rendering side. For more details, please view the Shader Peformance page.