Unity Script Reference – Camera.RenderToCubemap

Camera.RenderToCubemap

function RenderToCubemap (cubemap : Cubemap, faceMask : int = 63) : boolean

Description

Render into a static cubemap from this camera.

This function is mostly useful in the editor for "baking" static cubemaps of your scene. See wizard example below. If you want a realtime-updated cubemap, use RenderToCubemap variant that uses a RenderTexture with isCubemap flag, see below.

Camera's position, clear flags and clipping plane distances will be used to render into cubemap faces. faceMask is a bitfield indicating which cubemap faces should be rendered into. Each bit that is set corresponds to a face. Bit numbers are integer values of CubemapFace enum. By default all six cubemap faces will be rendered (default value 63 has six lowest bits on).

This function will return false if rendering to cubemap fails. Some graphics hardware does not support the functionality.

Note: This is a Unity PRO feature.

// Render scene from a given point into a static cube map.
// Place this script in Editor folder of your project.
// Then use the cubemap with one of Reflective shaders!
class RenderCubemapWizard extends ScriptableWizard {
    var renderFromPosition : Transform;
    var cubemap : Cubemap;
    
    function OnWizardUpdate () {
        helpString = "Select transform to render from and cubemap to render into";
        isValid = (renderFromPosition != null) && (cubemap != null);
    }
    
    function OnWizardCreate () {
        // create temporary camera for rendering
        var go = new GameObject( "CubemapCamera", Camera );
        // place it on the object
        go.transform.position = renderFromPosition.position;
        go.transform.rotation = Quaternion.identity;

        // render into cubemap        
        go.camera.RenderToCubemap( cubemap );
        
        // destroy temporary camera
        DestroyImmediate( go );
    }
    
    @MenuItem("GameObject/Render into Cubemap")
    static function RenderCubemap () {
        ScriptableWizard.DisplayWizard.<RenderCubemapWizard>(
            "Render cubemap", "Render!");
    }
}

function RenderToCubemap (cubemap : RenderTexture, faceMask : int = 63) : boolean

Description

Render into a cubemap from this camera.

This is used for real-time reflections into cubemap render textures. It can be quite expensive though, especially if all six cubemap faces are rendered each frame.

This function will return false if rendering to cubemap fails. Some graphics hardware does not support the functionality.

Note: This is a Unity PRO feature.

// Attach this script to an object that uses a Reflective shader.
// Realtime reflective cubemaps!

@script ExecuteInEditMode

var cubemapSize = 128;
var oneFacePerFrame = false;
private var cam : Camera;
private var rtex : RenderTexture;

function Start () {
    // render all six faces at startup
    UpdateCubemap( 63 );
}

function LateUpdate () {
    if (oneFacePerFrame) {
        var faceToRender = Time.frameCount % 6;
        var faceMask = 1 << faceToRender;
        UpdateCubemap (faceMask);
    } else {
        UpdateCubemap (63); // all six faces
    }
}

function UpdateCubemap (faceMask : int) {
    if (!cam) {
        var go = new GameObject ("CubemapCamera", Camera);
        go.hideFlags = HideFlags.HideAndDontSave;
        go.transform.position = transform.position;
        go.transform.rotation = Quaternion.identity;
        cam = go.camera;
        cam.farClipPlane = 100; // don't render very far into cubemap
        cam.enabled = false;
    }
    
    if (!rtex) {    
        rtex = new RenderTexture (cubemapSize, cubemapSize, 16);
        rtex.isCubemap = true;
        rtex.hideFlags = HideFlags.HideAndDontSave;
        renderer.sharedMaterial.SetTexture ("_Cube", rtex);
    }
    
    cam.transform.position = transform.position;
    cam.RenderToCubemap (rtex, faceMask);
}

function OnDisable () {
    DestroyImmediate (cam);
    DestroyImmediate (rtex);
}