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Sun Beams / God Rays Shader Breakdown (Cyanilux)

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Description

Sun Beams / God Rays Shader Breakdown is a May 2024 Cyanilux tutorial (updated August 2025) on stylized god rays in Unity URP Shader Graph. It favors billboard quads or particles over radial-blur or volumetric raymarching for top-down outdoor scenes.

The unlit transparent graph covers inverse-view billboarding, stretching vertices toward main light (ShaderGraphCustomLighting or graph nodes), depth fades, striped alpha, edge softening, URP shadow masks, and optional scrolling dust for HDR bloom.

Intermediate readers need URP with Depth Texture and Shader Graph vertex edits. Shuriken or VFX Graph billboards are noted, plus a LightRayHandler script that wraps quads around the player.

Annotated screenshots follow the usual Cyanilux breakdown layout. The article is free on cyanilux.com.

Often cited in Unity shader circles as a lightweight sun-beam recipe when volumetrics are too costly.