**************************************
*          HIGHLIGHT PLUS            *
* Created by Ramiro Oliva (Kronnect) * 
*            README FILE             *
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Notice about Universal Rendering Pipeline
-----------------------------------------
This package is designed for URP.
It requires Unity 2021.3 or later
To install the plugin correctly:

1) Make sure you have Universal Rendering Pipeline asset installed (from Package Manager).
2) Go to Project Settings / Graphics.
3) Double click the Universal Rendering Pipeline asset.
4) Double click the Forward Renderer asset.
5) Click "+" to add the Highlight Plus Renderer Feature to the list of the Forward Renderer Features.

Note: URP assets can be assigned to Settings / Graphics and also Settings / Quality. Check both sections!

You can also find a HighlightPlusForwardRenderer asset in the Highlight Plus / Pipelines / URP folder.
Make sure the Highlight Plus Scriptable Renderer Feature is listed in the Renderer Features of the  Forward Renderer in the pipeline asset.

Video instructions: https://youtu.be/d4onpE5RDNs


Quick help: how to use this asset?
----------------------------------

1) Highlighting specific objects: add HighlightEffect.cs script to any GameObject. Customize the appearance options.
  In the Highlight Effect inspector, you can specify which objects, in addition to this one, are also affected by the effect:
    a) Only this object
    b) This object and its children
    c) All objects from the root to the children
    d) All objects belonging to a layer

2) Control highlight effect when mouse is over:
  Add HighlightTrigger.cs script to the GameObject. It will activate highlight on the gameobject when mouse pass over it.

3) Highlighting any object in the scene:
  Select top menu GameObject -> Effects -> Highlight Plus -> Create Manager.
  Customize appearance and behaviour of Highlight Manager. Those settings are default settings for all objects. If you want different settings for certain objects just add another HighlightEffect script to each different object. The manager will use those settings.

4) Make transparent shaders compatible with See-Through effect:
  If you want the See-Through effect be seen through other transparent objects, they need to be modified so they write to depth buffer (by default transparent objects do not write to z-buffer).
  To do so, select top menu GameObject -> Effects -> Highlight Plus -> Add Depth To Transparent Object.

5) Static batching:
  Objects marked as "static" need a MeshCollider in order to be highlighted. This is because Unity combines the meshes of static objects so it's not possible to highlight individual objects if their meshes are combined.
  To allow highlighting static objects make sure they have a MeshCollider attached (the MeshCollider can be disabled).




Help & Support Forum
--------------------

Check the Documentation folder for detailed instructions:

Have any question or issue?
* Support-Web: https://kronnect.com/docs/highlight-plus/
* Support-Discord: https://discord.gg/EH2GMaM
* Email: contact@kronnect.com
* Twitter: @Kronnect

If you like Highlight Plus, please rate it on the Asset Store. It encourages us to keep improving it! Thanks!




Future updates
--------------

All our assets follow an incremental development process by which a few beta releases are published on our support forum (kronnect.com).
We encourage you to signup and engage our forum. The forum is the primary support and feature discussions medium.

Of course, all updates of Highlight Plus will be eventually available on the Asset Store.



More Cool Assets!
-----------------
Check out our other assets here:
https://assetstore.unity.com/publishers/15018



Version history
---------------

Version 34.2 B4
- Overlay: added triplanar local space mapping, additive blend mode and texture scrolling support for triplanar
- Label: added World Space render mode option, suitable for VR
- [Fix] Fixed glow and outline not rendering correctly on sprites

Version 34.1
- Focus: blur and desaturation now work independently from tint color alpha

Version 34.0.2
- [Fix] Fixed highlight blockers not working when using Independent outline mode

Version 34.0
- New effect: Focus. Dims the background while keeping highlighted objects visible, with optional blur and configurable color/intensity
- Focus: added Desaturate option
- Added assembly definition files (Runtime, Editor, Demo)
  Please note: if you have created your own asmdefs, remove them or remove the plugin before importing the new update

Version 33.1
- Internal optimizations

Version 33.0
- Added support for particle systems
- Added "Vertex Transform Mode" option under Advanced settings. Allows per-object custom vertex transformations in CustomVertexTransform.cginc.
- Include: added option to exclude objects that already have Highlight Effect
- Revamped inspector style

Version 32.6
- Highlight Manager: added "Blocking Layer Mask" option. Objects in this layer mask will block the highlight if they are between the camera and the target.
- [Fix] HitFX fixes

Version 32.5
- Highlight Trigger: added "Blocking Layer Mask" option. Objects in this layer mask will block the highlight if they are between the camera and the target.

Version 32.4
- See-through effect: added "Fade Range" option to Max Depth
- [Fix] Prevents issues when rendering on depth only targets

Version 32.3
- Alpha Cut Off: added option to specify custom texture name
- Label: added "Max Distance" and "Fade Start Distance" (distance-based visibility)
- Label: added "Scale By Distance" with "Scale Min" and "Scale Max"
- Label: added "Viewport Offset" option
- Label: automatically hides when object gets outside of viewport 

Version 32.2.2
- [Fix] Fixed "Respect Other UI" when raycast source is set to camera direction

Version 32.2
- Added "Relative Alignment" to label options
- [Fix] Fixed instanced mesh tracking usage bug

Version 32.1
- Outline & Outer Glow: added pixelization option in highest quality mode
- [Fix] Fixed alpha cutoff issue when selecting objects using the Highlight HighlightManager
- [Fix] Fixed console error when using a material without main texture

Version 32
- Added "Use Original Shader" option. This advanced option allows using glow/outline in highest quality using the original material shader and support advanced shaders with vertex transformations.
- Optimization: Outer Glow / Outline in highest quality now dynamically reduce the number of blur passes based on object distance when Constant Width option is disabled
- Highlight Effect Blocker: added options to include children

Version 31.0
- New demo scene "TargetClickExample": target over floor and objects and object instantiation
- New demo scene "Two Managers": using two highlight managers with different settings and target layers each
- New demo scene "Effects": showing extra stylized options
- Target: added "Center On Hit Position" and "Align To Hit Normal" options
- Highlight Manager/Trigger: added OnObjectClicked event
- Label: added "Always Show In Editor Mode" option

Version 30.0
- New effect: Label -> displays a text next to the highlighted object
- Outline: added "Stylized" (toon/charcoal style) option in highest quality mode
- Outline: added "Dashed" style
- Outline: added "Gradient" option to Highest Quality mode
- Outer Glow: added "High Precision" option for smoother results
- Inner Glow: added "Power" property
- Icon: added option to use a prefab instead of a mesh
- Target: added "Style" option with Texture, Frame, InwardCorners and Cross options
- Target: added minimum opacity options
- Target: align to ground, added Ground Min Altitude to support transparent ground surfaces
- Overlay: added pattern option (polkadots, grid, lines, zigzag)
- Hit FX: added trigger mode option (scripting/when highlighted)
- Improved padding
- Smoother outer glow
- Added "Highlight Root" component. Can be used to specify a different root in the hierarchy when Root To Children is used.
- Highlight Trigger & Highlight Manager: added "Unhighlight On UI" option under "Respect UI"
- Render Feature: added option to show/hide effects in Scene View

Version 22.1
- Added "Target" option under Include
- Added "Extra Coverage Pixels" to avoid cuts when using cloth or vertex shaders that transform vertices positions

Version 22.0.8
- [Fix] Fixed see-through not rendering properly on flipped sprites

Version 22.0
- Added "Highlight Effect Blocker" component. You can use it to cancel background outline/glow/overlay when a sprite or transparent object is highlighted.

Version 21.1
- Performance optimizations when using independent option
- QoL improvements: additional warnings in inspector

Version 21.0
- New effect: icon
- Improved "Combine Meshes" option which now supports meshes with 32 bit index format

Version 20.1.2
- Changes to improve compatibility with custom assembly definitions (requires removal and reimport of the plugin)

Version 20.1.1
- [Fix] VR fixes

Version 20.1
- Added "Padding" option: creates an empty space between the mesh and the objects
- Added "Sorting Priority" option to Highlight Effect inspector. Useful to ensure certain effects render on top of others.
- Added "Minimum Width" option when constant width is disabled (affects outline/glow widths)
- OnObjectHighlightStart event no longer checks only once on a specific object
- API: added OnObjectHighlightStay to HighlightManager/HighlightTrigger event which can be used to cancel the highlight on the current object

Version 20.0.2
- See-through: improved Editor debug of occluders in non-accurate/collider based mode

Version 20.0.1
- [Fix] Fixed GPU instancing on skinned mesh renderers

Version 20.0
- Added support for Unity 2023.3 RenderGraph
- Option to use RegEx for the Include Object Name Filter
- To avoid requiring the New Input System package, the "Old" input system is now used if "Both" option is enabled in Project Settings
- [Fix] Fixes for fast domain reload
- [Fix] Fixed: calling SelectObject while fading out from a previous UnSelectObject would fail

Version 12.1
- Added dithering style option to outer glow effect
- Added "use enclosing bounds" option to Target FX effect
- See-through border is now combined with multiple children

Version 12.0
- Upgraded to Unity 2021.3.16
- Outline: added "Sharpness" property to control the bluriness of outline in Highest Quality mode
- API: added HighlightEffect.lastHighlighted and HighlightEffect.lastSelected static fields
- [Fix] API: fixes an issue with Unselect method of Highlight Plus manager

Version 11.3
- Overlay effect: added Texture Scrolling option for non-triplanar uv space mode.
- API: added "OnHighlightStateChange" event. This event triggers as soon as the highlight state changes, regardless of any fade in/out effect

Version 11.2
- Change: removed "Glow Ignore Mask" and replaced by "Mask Mode"
- Added "Mask Mode" to Outline section
- API: added HighlightEffect.useUnscaledTime option
- [Fix] Fixed fade out option issue with see-through effect

Version 11.1
- See-through: added "Children Sorting Mode" option
- [Fix] Fixed outline clipping issue in VR when near to camera

Version 11.0.2
- Added support for split screen cameras

Version 11.0
- Added "Show In Preview Camera" option to Highlight Plus render feature
- Preview in Editor option has moved to the Highlight Plus render feature
- Outline improvements in highest quality mode
- Added Glow Blur Method option: Gaussian (higher quality, default) or Kawase (faster)
- Option to optimize skinned mesh data when using outline/outer glow with mesh-based rendering. Reduces draw calls significantly.

Version 10.2.2
- [Fix] Occluder system now ignores particle renderers
- [Fix] Fixed rendering sorting issue when several highlighted objects share same position

Version 10.2
- Added "Contour Style" option: 1) around visible parts, or 2) around object shape

Version 10.1
- Two outline edge modes are now available when Outline Quality is set to High, allowing to render interior edges
- Added "Inner Glow Blend Mode" option

Version 10.0
- Added support for sprites. Compatible effects: outline, glow, overlay, target and hit fx.
- Added "Overlay Visibility" option
- Fixes

Version 9.6
- Added new "UV Space" options to Overlay effect (now: triplanar, object space or screen space)
- Added mask texture and "UV Space" options to See-Through effect
- Camera Distance Fade now also affects the see-through effect

Version 9.5
- Outline: added Color Style property and new Gradient option
- Internal buffer for highest quality outline/glow format changed to R8 format to reduce memory and improve performance on mobile
- API: Refresh(discardCachedMeshes): added discardCachedMeshes optional parameter to force refresh of cached meshes (useful for combined meshes that have changed)

Version 9.4
- Highlight See Through Occluder: added mode for triggering the see-through offect on sprites and transparent objects
- Performance optimizations when using a high number of Highlight Effect components in the scene
- [Fix] Fixed shader compatibility issue on PS4

Version 9.3
- Overlay: added "Mode" option (only when highlighted or always)
- Nested highlight effects are now included unless the 'Ignore' option is selected
- Cached meshes are now reconstructed when calling the Refresh() method

Version 9.2
- Improved shared mesh cache handling
- Improved see-through camera-layer based detection

Version 9.1.2
- [Fix] Fixed outline/glow distortion due to floating point math issues at distant positions from origin
- [Fix] Fixed VR issue in Unity 2022.1 with Single Pass Instanced

Version 9.1.1
- [Fix] Fixed potential issue with Unity 2021.2 related to depthCameraAttachment handling

Version 9.1
- Added support for Unity 2022
- Added Layer Mask option to Highlight Trigger
- Added "Keep Selection" option in Highlight Manager and Highlight Trigger
- [Fix] Fixed a potential issue that could exceed the maximum 64k vertices when combining meshes

Version 9.0
- Added "Camera Distance Fade" option
- Improved see-through accurate method which now takes into account multi-part meshes from compound parents
- [Fix] Fixed glow/outline aspect ratio in Single Pass Instanced VR mode

Version 8.5
- Improved outline effect when combining "Independent" option with many elements in "Children" selection
- Improved see-through border only effect

Version 8.4.1
- [Fix] Fixed unnecessary memory allocation in the render feature

Version 8.4
- Added "Border Only" option to See-Through effect
- Adding a Highlight Effect component to a parent no longer deactivates highlighted children

Version 8.3
- Upgraded to Unity 2020.3.16 as minimum

Version 8.2
- Added "Ignore Mask" option to glow. Can be used to render the glow effect alone
- [Fix] Fixed issue with new input system and highlight manager/trigger if no Event System is present in the scene
- [Fix] Fixed glow passes UI overlap in Unity 2021.3.3 due to reorderable array bug

Version 8.1
- Selection state is now visible in inspector (used only by trigger and manager components)
- [Fix] Fixed outer glow not showing in higher quality with visibility set to normal and orthographic camera
- [Fix] Fixed mobile input using the new input system
- [Fix] Fixed outline settings mismatch when using a combination of Highlight Trigger and Manager

Version 8.0
- Added SelectObject / ToggleObject / UnselectObject methods to Highlight Manager
- Added ability to apply custom sorting to effects (check documentation: Custom sorting section)
- Independent option is now moved to Highlight Options section and affects both outline and glow
- Added "Clear Stencil" option to Highlight Plus Render Feature (useful to solve compatibility with other assets that use stencil buffers)

Version 7.9.2
- [Fix] Fixed an issue in Unity 2021.2 when using MSAA and High Quality outline/glow

Version 7.9.1
- Default values for all effects are now 0 (disabled) except outline so desired effects must be enabled. This option allows you to ensure no extra/undesired effects are activated by mistake
- Redesigned Highlight Plus Profile editor interface
- Removed dependency of HighlightManager

Version 7.8
- Added outer glow blend mode option
- API: added OnObjectHighlightStart/End events to HighlightTrigger (check documentation for differences with similar events on Highlight Effect main script)
- [Fix] API: Fixed specific issues with SetTarget method when used on shader graph based materials that don't use standard texture names

Version 7.7.2
- [Fix] Fixed fade in/out issue when disabling/enabling objects

Version 7.7
- Added support for the new Input System
- [Fix] Fixes to the align to ground option of target fx effect

Version 7.6.2
- [Fix] VR: fixed target effect "Align to Ground" issue with Single Pass Instanced

Version 7.6.1
- [Fix] Fixed overlay animation speed issue

Version 7.6
- Added "Target FX Align to Ground" option
- Added isSeeThroughOccluded(camera). Is true when any see-through occluder using raycast mode is blocking the see-through effect
- All shader keywords are now of local type reducing global keyword usage
- Fixes and improvements to see-through when combined with outline/outer glow

Version 7.5.2
- [Fix] See-through is now visible when using glow/outline/inner glow with Always Visible option

Version 7.5.1
- [Fix] Fixed regression bug with Outline in High Quality mode

Version 7.5
- Added new HitFX style: "Local Hit"
- Added new demo scene showcasing the HitFx variations
- Added "Overlay Texture" option
- Added "Min Distance" option to Highlight Manager and Highlight Trigger
- Added support for "Domain Reload" disabled option
- API: added OnObjectHighlightStart, OnObjectHighlightEnd events to HighlightManager
- [Fix] Fixed inner glow and overlay issue when MaterialPropertyBlock is used on the character material

Version 7.1
- Added "Respect UI" to Highlight Manager and Trigger which blocks interaction if pointer is over an UI element

Version 7.0.2
- Memory optimizations

Version 7.0
- Added support for Single Pass Instanced
- Internal improvements and fixes

Version 6.9
- Added "Ordered" option to see-through
- Removed "Non Overlap" option from see-through as now it pervents overdraw by default

Version 6.8
- Improvements to see-through rendering order
- [Fix] Fixed properties not being reflected in scene immediately when invoking Undo

Version 6.7
- Added "SeeThrough Max Depth" option. Limits the visibility of the see-through effect to certain distance from the occluders
- Added "SeeThrough Check Individual Objects" option. If enabled, occlusion test is performed for each individual child of the object, instead of using combined bounds

Version 6.6
- Added "SeeThrough Depth Offset" option. This option allows you to control the minimum distance from the occluder to the object before showing the see-through effect
- Added "SeeThrough Non Overlap" option. Enable it only if the see-through effect produces flickering due to overlapping geometry in the hidden object
- [Fix] Fixed properties not being reflected in scene immediately when invoking Undo

Version 6.5.2
- Added inspector tooltips and improved documentation

Version 6.5.1
- Calling ProfileLoad() method will now assign that profile to the highlight effect component in addition to loading its values
- Prevents _Time overflow which can cause glitching on some Android devices

Version 6.5
- Name filter now is ignored when effect group is set to Only This Object
- New shader "HighlightPlus/Geometry/UIMask" to cancel highlight effects when rendering through a UI Canvas (see documentation)

Version 6.4
- Added "Cameras Layer Mask" to specify which cameras can render the effects
- Hit FX color in Highlight Profile now exposes HDR color options

Version 6.3.1
- Added "Single Selection" option to Highlight Manager/Trigger
- Added "Toggle" option to Highlight Manager/Trigger
- Selection is cleared now when clicking anywhere in the scene (requires Highlight Manager)
- API: added SetGlowColor
- Improved Highlight Manager inspector

Version 6.2
- Added TargetFX Scale To Object Bounds (defaults to false)
- Added support for HDR color to Hit FX color field
- Option to list occluders in the inspector when See Through Occluder Mask "Accurate" option is enabled

Version 6.1
- Added more accurate occluder layer system ("Accurate" option)
- Added default hit fx settings to inspector & profile
- Added hit fx modes (overlay or inner glow)

Version 6.0
- Added Selection feature
- Inspector: sections can be now collapsed to reduce screen space
- API: added OnObjectSelected / OnObjectUnSelected events

Version 5.5 4/Apr/2021
- [Fix] Fixed glow overlay when MSAA is disabled on Windows

Version 5.4 5/Feb/2021
- Added Visibility option to targete effect
- Stencil mask is no longer computed when only overlay or inner glow is used improving performance

Version 5.3.4 22/01/2021
- Optimizations to material setters
- [Fix] Fixed outline color issue with quality level set to medium

Version 5.3.3
- Effects now reflect object transform changes when combines meshes option is enabled

Version 5.3
- Added "Combine Meshes" option to profile
- Optimizations and fixes

Version 5.2
- Added "Object Name Filter" option to profile

Version 5.1
- Added "Border When Hidden" effect (outline when see-through triggers)

Version 5.0.1
- Added support for Unity 2020.2 beta

Version 5.0
- API: added "TargetFX" method to programmatically start the target effect  
- Added support for double-sided shader effects

Version 4.9
- Added "Medium" quality level

Version 4.8.2
- [Fix] Fixed issue with outline set to fastest and glow using highest in latest URP version

Version 4.8.1
- [Fix] Fixed issue with outline/glow when overlay cameras are present on the stack

Version 4.8
- Added "Outer Glow Blend Passes" option
- [Fix] Fixed outline & glow issue with alpha cutout when using non-highest quality mode

Version 4.7
- Added "Normals Option" with Smooth, Preserve and Reorient variants to improve results
- Target effect now only renders once per gameobject if a specific target transform is specified
- API: added OnTargetAnimates. Allows you to override center, rotation and scale of target effect on a per-frame basis.

Version 4.6
- Added "SubMesh Mask" which allows to exclude certain submeshes
- [Fix] Fixed shader compilation issue with Single Pass Instanced mode enabled

Version 4.4
- Exposed "Smooth Normals" option in inspector.

Version 4.3.2
- Added HitFX effect
- Improvements to SeeThrough Occluder when Detection Mode is set to RayCast

Version 4.3.1
- [Fix] Fixed issue with Highlight Effect Occluder script

Version 4.3
- Added GPU instancing support for outline / outer glow effects

Version 4.2.2
- [Fix] Fixed effect being rendered when object is outside of frustum camera

Version 4.2.1
- Profile: added "Constant Width" property
- Enabled HDR color picker to Color properties
- [Fix] Fixed missing outline with flat surfaces like quads under certain angles

Version 4.2
- Glow/Outline downsampling option added to profiles
- [Fix] Removed VR API usage console warning

Version 4.1
- Added Outline Independent option
- [Fix] Fixed error when highlight script is added to an empty gameobject

Version 4.0
- Support for URP Scriptable Rendering Feature
