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Easy Outlines (Daniel Ilett)

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Daniel Ilett

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Daniel Ilett's June 2021 Bytesize Gamedev article on danielilett.com shows crisp block-color outlines on 3D Unity meshes via Universal Render Pipeline Shader Graph, without post-processing.

You build an Unlit URP graph, enable two-sided rendering, and alpha-clip front faces with Is Front Face, Branch, and a 0.5 threshold so only an expanded back-face shell renders. Outline Thickness scales object-space normals added to vertex positions.

Use the graph as a second material while your main shader draws the surface - the inflated-hull approach Ilett calls one of the easiest outline options in games.

Intermediate technical artists comfortable with Shader Graph and URP slots benefit most; notes cover Graph Settings versus legacy master-node layouts on older Unity.

First Bytesize Gamedev entry; free online and often listed in curated Unity shader roundups such as the Cyanilux resources gist.