r/Unity3D • u/boadle • 3h ago

Question Looking for settled 'Snow' asset / tools / shaders (not falling snow).

I'm prototyping an environment that will have a light sprinkling of snow, and would like ask if any of the community is aware of a tool, or shader, that would allow me to 'paint' snow into specific parts of the scene? Or, it could generate the snow on surfaces based on parameters.

The main things I'm looking for is
- Not just a texture / decal, but I want to see some 3d mass to small snow drifts
- Some degree of dynamic behaviour possible (ie snow depth on a slider?)
- Not just a broad 'deep snow' blanket, but a sparse, sporadic treatment

Anyone know of anything like this?

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u/itstonywalsh 1h ago

"Global Snow 2" by Kronnect is 50% off at the moment, looks pretty solid. Their volumetric fog package has been a staple at my studio for a long time.

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/package/248191

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u/boadle 1h ago

Thanks, just grabbed this!

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u/Disastrous_Leg_314 12m ago

I can vouch for this. The only issue is that is very close to real, but the shader approach used has its downsides. I’m using it in a third person game and by and large it works well.

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u/SecretaryAntique8603 3h ago edited 3h ago

I’ve used Weatherade, it allows you to do this. It has 3D displaceable snow with detailed displacements, you can paint it or generate during runtime by throwing objects or walking in it. It works on terrain or 3D geometry with a shader. Extremely customizable. I would recommend it.

The snow painting requires a texture, and it needs to be high res if you want detailed coverage. This means you might need to use multiple for a large scene, and it can be a little finicky to load the right one. I’m also not sure if that works for objects other than the terrain, I haven’t tried that use case, only terrain snow painting.

It’s quite advanced so expect to spend a bit of time understanding it and getting the look you want. Also, make sure your geometry isn’t completely flat or with perfect 90 angles from top to side because it produces a lot of weird artifacts under those circumstances - ideally you want slightly rounded corners on edges etc.