Tutorial 5 - Post-processing & Cinemachine

Post-processing

For this tutorial work, I've added two post processing effects to the game world. Post-processing effects are like camera filters but sometimes a little more advanced than just tweaking colours.

The global effect that is active across the entire map includes:

• Bloom, to create a subtle glow around bright parts of the camera view.
• Vignette, to slightly darken the edges of the view.
• Ambient occlusion, which approximates shadows caused by contact or closeness between objects/geometry.
• Colour grading to make colours pop.

When walking near the two kangaroos, the colour grading and vignette switch to a warmer tone.

It may not look like much in these pictures, but it's a bigger difference when actually playing the game firsthand.

Cinemachine

Cinemachine is Unity's advanced camera solution that comes with many premade camera behaviours.

In the case of this small game, I used it to create smoother motion on the camera that follows the player. There's also a portion of the level (the same portion that activates the kangaroo filter) which switches the camera to a dolly camera. This camera glues itself to a floating rail or track and does its best to both look at and follow the player without detaching from the track.

Video