Unity TextMeshPro Billboard / always facing camera shader

TMPro-Billboard.shader

Shader "TextMeshPro/Distance Field-BillboardFacing" 
{

// Billboarding version for TextMeshPro (tested in 2018.3), based on default Distance Field shader. 
// ** Important part is to DISABLE the dynamic batching! (happens in this shader) **
// ...Took a while to figure out that one.
//
// Use as you like! 
// - Almar

Properties {
	_FaceTex			("Face Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
	_FaceUVSpeedX		("Face UV Speed X", Range(-5, 5)) = 0.0
	_FaceUVSpeedY		("Face UV Speed Y", Range(-5, 5)) = 0.0
	_FaceColor			("Face Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
	_FaceDilate			("Face Dilate", Range(-1,1)) = 0

	_OutlineColor		("Outline Color", Color) = (0,0,0,1)
	_OutlineTex			("Outline Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
	_OutlineUVSpeedX	("Outline UV Speed X", Range(-5, 5)) = 0.0
	_OutlineUVSpeedY	("Outline UV Speed Y", Range(-5, 5)) = 0.0
	_OutlineWidth		("Outline Thickness", Range(0, 1)) = 0
	_OutlineSoftness	("Outline Softness", Range(-1,1)) = 0

	_Bevel				("Bevel", Range(0,1)) = 0.5
	_BevelOffset		("Bevel Offset", Range(-0.5,0.5)) = 0
	_BevelWidth			("Bevel Width", Range(-.5,0.5)) = 0
	_BevelClamp			("Bevel Clamp", Range(0,1)) = 0
	_BevelRoundness		("Bevel Roundness", Range(0,1)) = 0

	_LightAngle			("Light Angle", Range(0.0, 6.2831853)) = 3.1416
	_SpecularColor		("Specular", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
	_SpecularPower		("Specular", Range(0,4)) = 2.0
	_Reflectivity		("Reflectivity", Range(5.0,15.0)) = 10
	_Diffuse			("Diffuse", Range(0,1)) = 0.5
	_Ambient			("Ambient", Range(1,0)) = 0.5

	_BumpMap 			("Normal map", 2D) = "bump" {}
	_BumpOutline		("Bump Outline", Range(0,1)) = 0
	_BumpFace			("Bump Face", Range(0,1)) = 0

	_ReflectFaceColor	("Reflection Color", Color) = (0,0,0,1)
	_ReflectOutlineColor("Reflection Color", Color) = (0,0,0,1)
	_Cube 				("Reflection Cubemap", Cube) = "black" { /* TexGen CubeReflect */ }
	_EnvMatrixRotation	("Texture Rotation", vector) = (0, 0, 0, 0)
		

	_UnderlayColor		("Border Color", Color) = (0,0,0, 0.5)
	_UnderlayOffsetX	("Border OffsetX", Range(-1,1)) = 0
	_UnderlayOffsetY	("Border OffsetY", Range(-1,1)) = 0
	_UnderlayDilate		("Border Dilate", Range(-1,1)) = 0
	_UnderlaySoftness	("Border Softness", Range(0,1)) = 0

	_GlowColor			("Color", Color) = (0, 1, 0, 0.5)
	_GlowOffset			("Offset", Range(-1,1)) = 0
	_GlowInner			("Inner", Range(0,1)) = 0.05
	_GlowOuter			("Outer", Range(0,1)) = 0.05
	_GlowPower			("Falloff", Range(1, 0)) = 0.75

	_WeightNormal		("Weight Normal", float) = 0
	_WeightBold			("Weight Bold", float) = 0.5

	_ShaderFlags		("Flags", float) = 0
	_ScaleRatioA		("Scale RatioA", float) = 1
	_ScaleRatioB		("Scale RatioB", float) = 1
	_ScaleRatioC		("Scale RatioC", float) = 1

	_MainTex			("Font Atlas", 2D) = "white" {}
	_TextureWidth		("Texture Width", float) = 512
	_TextureHeight		("Texture Height", float) = 512
	_GradientScale		("Gradient Scale", float) = 5.0
	_ScaleX				("Scale X", float) = 1.0
	_ScaleY				("Scale Y", float) = 1.0
	_PerspectiveFilter	("Perspective Correction", Range(0, 1)) = 0.875

	_VertexOffsetX		("Vertex OffsetX", float) = 0
	_VertexOffsetY		("Vertex OffsetY", float) = 0
	
	_MaskCoord			("Mask Coordinates", vector) = (0, 0, 32767, 32767)
	_ClipRect			("Clip Rect", vector) = (-32767, -32767, 32767, 32767)
	_MaskSoftnessX		("Mask SoftnessX", float) = 0
	_MaskSoftnessY		("Mask SoftnessY", float) = 0

	_StencilComp		("Stencil Comparison", Float) = 8
	_Stencil			("Stencil ID", Float) = 0
	_StencilOp			("Stencil Operation", Float) = 0
	_StencilWriteMask	("Stencil Write Mask", Float) = 255
	_StencilReadMask	("Stencil Read Mask", Float) = 255

	_ColorMask			("Color Mask", Float) = 15
}

SubShader {

	Tags
	{
		"Queue"="Transparent+8000"
		"IgnoreProjector"="True"
		"RenderType"="Transparent"

		// Important to disable batching! Otherwise things will be offset
		"DisableBatching" = "True"
	}

	Stencil
	{
		Ref [_Stencil]
		Comp [_StencilComp]
		Pass [_StencilOp] 
		ReadMask [_StencilReadMask]
		WriteMask [_StencilWriteMask]
	}

	Cull [_CullMode]
	ZWrite Off
	Lighting Off
	Fog { Mode Off }
	ZTest Always
	Blend One OneMinusSrcAlpha
	ColorMask [_ColorMask]

	Pass {
		CGPROGRAM
		#pragma target 3.0
		#pragma vertex VertShader
		#pragma fragment PixShader
		#pragma shader_feature __ BEVEL_ON
		#pragma shader_feature __ UNDERLAY_ON UNDERLAY_INNER
		#pragma shader_feature __ GLOW_ON

		#pragma multi_compile __ UNITY_UI_CLIP_RECT
		#pragma multi_compile __ UNITY_UI_ALPHACLIP

		int _KeepConstantScaling;
		float _Scaling;


		#include "UnityCG.cginc"
		#include "UnityUI.cginc"
		#include "TMPro_Properties.cginc"
		#include "TMPro.cginc"

		struct vertex_t {
			float4	position		: POSITION;
			float3	normal			: NORMAL;
			fixed4	color			: COLOR;
			float2	texcoord0		: TEXCOORD0;
			float2	texcoord1		: TEXCOORD1;
		};


		struct pixel_t {
			float4	position		: SV_POSITION;
			fixed4	color			: COLOR;
			float2	atlas			: TEXCOORD0;		// Atlas
			float4	param			: TEXCOORD1;		// alphaClip, scale, bias, weight
			float4	mask			: TEXCOORD2;		// Position in object space(xy), pixel Size(zw)
			float3	viewDir			: TEXCOORD3;
			
		#if (UNDERLAY_ON || UNDERLAY_INNER)
			float4	texcoord2		: TEXCOORD4;		// u,v, scale, bias
			fixed4	underlayColor	: COLOR1;
		#endif
			float4 textures			: TEXCOORD5;
		};

		// Used by Unity internally to handle Texture Tiling and Offset.
		float4 _FaceTex_ST;
		float4 _OutlineTex_ST;

		pixel_t VertShader(vertex_t input)
		{
			float bold = step(input.texcoord1.y, 0);

			float4 vert = input.position;
			vert.x += _VertexOffsetX;
			vert.y += _VertexOffsetY;

			// Face camera: based upon: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cg_Programming/Unity/Billboards
			float4 vPosition = mul(UNITY_MATRIX_P, mul(UNITY_MATRIX_MV, float4(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)) + float4(vert.x, vert.y, vert.z, vert.w));
			

			float2 pixelSize = vPosition.w;
			pixelSize /= float2(_ScaleX, _ScaleY) * abs(mul((float2x2)UNITY_MATRIX_P, _ScreenParams.xy));
			float scale = rsqrt(dot(pixelSize, pixelSize));
			scale *= abs(input.texcoord1.y) * _GradientScale * 1.5;
			if (UNITY_MATRIX_P[3][3] == 0) scale = lerp(abs(scale) * (1 - _PerspectiveFilter), scale, abs(dot(UnityObjectToWorldNormal(input.normal.xyz), normalize(WorldSpaceViewDir(vert)))));

			float weight = lerp(_WeightNormal, _WeightBold, bold) / 4.0;
			weight = (weight + _FaceDilate) * _ScaleRatioA * 0.5;

			float bias =(.5 - weight) + (.5 / scale);

			float alphaClip = (1.0 - _OutlineWidth*_ScaleRatioA - _OutlineSoftness*_ScaleRatioA);
		
		#if GLOW_ON
			alphaClip = min(alphaClip, 1.0 - _GlowOffset * _ScaleRatioB - _GlowOuter * _ScaleRatioB);
		#endif

			alphaClip = alphaClip / 2.0 - ( .5 / scale) - weight;

		#if (UNDERLAY_ON || UNDERLAY_INNER)
			float4 underlayColor = _UnderlayColor;
			underlayColor.rgb *= underlayColor.a;

			float bScale = scale;
			bScale /= 1 + ((_UnderlaySoftness*_ScaleRatioC) * bScale);
			float bBias = (0.5 - weight) * bScale - 0.5 - ((_UnderlayDilate * _ScaleRatioC) * 0.5 * bScale);

			float x = -(_UnderlayOffsetX * _ScaleRatioC) * _GradientScale / _TextureWidth;
			float y = -(_UnderlayOffsetY * _ScaleRatioC) * _GradientScale / _TextureHeight;
			float2 bOffset = float2(x, y);
		#endif

			// Generate UV for the Masking Texture
			float4 clampedRect = clamp(_ClipRect, -2e10, 2e10);
			float2 maskUV = (vert.xy - clampedRect.xy) / (clampedRect.zw - clampedRect.xy);

			// Support for texture tiling and offset
			float2 textureUV = UnpackUV(input.texcoord1.x);
			float2 faceUV = TRANSFORM_TEX(textureUV, _FaceTex);
			float2 outlineUV = TRANSFORM_TEX(textureUV, _OutlineTex);

			pixel_t output = {
				vPosition,
				input.color,
				input.texcoord0,
				float4(alphaClip, scale, bias, weight),
				half4(vert.xy * 2 - clampedRect.xy - clampedRect.zw, 0.25 / (0.25 * half2(_MaskSoftnessX, _MaskSoftnessY) + pixelSize.xy)),
				mul((float3x3)_EnvMatrix, _WorldSpaceCameraPos.xyz - mul(unity_ObjectToWorld, vert).xyz),
			#if (UNDERLAY_ON || UNDERLAY_INNER)
				float4(input.texcoord0 + bOffset, bScale, bBias),
				underlayColor,
			#endif
				float4(faceUV, outlineUV),
			};

			return output;
		}


		fixed4 PixShader(pixel_t input) : SV_Target
		{
			float c = tex2D(_MainTex, input.atlas).a;
		
		#ifndef UNDERLAY_ON
			clip(c - input.param.x);
		#endif

			float	scale	= input.param.y;
			float	bias	= input.param.z;
			float	weight	= input.param.w;
			float	sd = (bias - c) * scale;

			float outline = (_OutlineWidth * _ScaleRatioA) * scale;
			float softness = (_OutlineSoftness * _ScaleRatioA) * scale;

			half4 faceColor = _FaceColor;
			half4 outlineColor = _OutlineColor;

			faceColor.rgb *= input.color.rgb;
			
			faceColor *= tex2D(_FaceTex, input.textures.xy + float2(_FaceUVSpeedX, _FaceUVSpeedY) * _Time.y);
			outlineColor *= tex2D(_OutlineTex, input.textures.zw + float2(_OutlineUVSpeedX, _OutlineUVSpeedY) * _Time.y);

			faceColor = GetColor(sd, faceColor, outlineColor, outline, softness);

		#if BEVEL_ON
			float3 dxy = float3(0.5 / _TextureWidth, 0.5 / _TextureHeight, 0);
			float3 n = GetSurfaceNormal(input.atlas, weight, dxy);

			float3 bump = UnpackNormal(tex2D(_BumpMap, input.textures.xy + float2(_FaceUVSpeedX, _FaceUVSpeedY) * _Time.y)).xyz;
			bump *= lerp(_BumpFace, _BumpOutline, saturate(sd + outline * 0.5));
			n = normalize(n- bump);

			float3 light = normalize(float3(sin(_LightAngle), cos(_LightAngle), -1.0));

			float3 col = GetSpecular(n, light);
			faceColor.rgb += col*faceColor.a;
			faceColor.rgb *= 1-(dot(n, light)*_Diffuse);
			faceColor.rgb *= lerp(_Ambient, 1, n.z*n.z);

			fixed4 reflcol = texCUBE(_Cube, reflect(input.viewDir, -n));
			faceColor.rgb += reflcol.rgb * lerp(_ReflectFaceColor.rgb, _ReflectOutlineColor.rgb, saturate(sd + outline * 0.5)) * faceColor.a;
		#endif

		#if UNDERLAY_ON
			float d = tex2D(_MainTex, input.texcoord2.xy).a * input.texcoord2.z;
			faceColor += input.underlayColor * saturate(d - input.texcoord2.w) * (1 - faceColor.a);
		#endif

		#if UNDERLAY_INNER
			float d = tex2D(_MainTex, input.texcoord2.xy).a * input.texcoord2.z;
			faceColor += input.underlayColor * (1 - saturate(d - input.texcoord2.w)) * saturate(1 - sd) * (1 - faceColor.a);
		#endif

		#if GLOW_ON
			float4 glowColor = GetGlowColor(sd, scale);
			faceColor.rgb += glowColor.rgb * glowColor.a;
		#endif

		// Alternative implementation to UnityGet2DClipping with support for softness.
		#if UNITY_UI_CLIP_RECT
			half2 m = saturate((_ClipRect.zw - _ClipRect.xy - abs(input.mask.xy)) * input.mask.zw);
			faceColor *= m.x * m.y;
		#endif

		#if UNITY_UI_ALPHACLIP
			clip(faceColor.a - 0.001);
		#endif

  		return faceColor * input.color.a;
		}

		ENDCG
	}
}

Fallback "TextMeshPro/Mobile/Distance Field"
CustomEditor "TMPro.EditorUtilities.TMP_SDFShaderGUI"
}

Hi @malDuffin , just change "Queue"="Transparent+8000" to "Queue"="Transparent".

I've changed the Queue as you suggested, but it gives the error, Shader error in 'TextMeshPro/Distance Field-BillboardFacing': Couldn't open include file 'TMPro_Properties.cginc'. at line 139 The Unity forums suggest that TMP needs to be reimported, but a full-project reimport has not resolved the issue. Trying to use in URP 13.1.8 in 2022.1.18f1

Hi @malDuffin , just change "Queue"="Transparent+8000" to "Queue"="Transparent".

I've changed the Queue as you suggested, but it gives the error, Shader error in 'TextMeshPro/Distance Field-BillboardFacing': Couldn't open include file 'TMPro_Properties.cginc'. at line 139 The Unity forums suggest that TMP needs to be reimported, but a full-project reimport has not resolved the issue. Trying to use in URP 13.1.8 in 2022.1.18f1

Hi @JonahGrimm ,you need to put 'TMPro-Billboard.shader' into the same path as 'TMPro_Properties.cginc'. Which is 'Assets\TextMesh Pro\Shaders'.

Thanks!

嗨 @westonweiyi ，我正在调试使用这个shader，我发现第180行是核心代码并且它的实现可能会在缩放不等于Vector.one的情况下出现字体大小异常的问题，float4 vPosition = mul(UNITY_MATRIX_P, mul(UNITY_MATRIX_MV, float4(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)) + float4(vert.x, vert.y, vert.z, vert.w));，也有可能是我的使用有误？
我通过以下代码修复：float3 vScale = float3(length(unity_ObjectToWorld[0].xyz), length(unity_ObjectToWorld[1].xyz), length(unity_ObjectToWorld[2].xyz)); float4 vPosition = mul(UNITY_MATRIX_P, mul(UNITY_MATRIX_MV, float4(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0 / vScale.x)) + float4(vert.x, vert.y, vert.z, vert.w)); 。此修复仅针对于三个轴向缩放都一致的情况下

if you have error like me
after moving shader file as mention @westonweiyi
just replace
#include "UnityCG.cginc"
with
#include "/UnityCG.cginc"

This doesn't work with >Unity 6. I posted a version that is compatible with >U6: https://gist.github.com/zephyo/1d1d3900046a9dcb04bf3cdb6f661909