Approach to Design

The shader design process was a great look through the following techniques:

• Screenspace Dithering: Using Python, I generated a volumetric mapping texture that finds the nearest visually equivalent shade from the 3DS color palette and points to the top left corner of an 8x8 square of that 'dither palette'. Then, in the shader, the pixel coordinates are used to determine its position in the 8x8 cell, leading to a screenspace dithering effect.
• Depth-Normals: This approach involved a combination of two maps: a normal map of the scene and a depth map. They were multiplied together to create a reliable way of outlining close objects to the camera.
• Edge Detection: For this, I applied a Sobel Filter, which involves convolving a kernel on the x and y coordinates of an image. In this case, it was applied to the depth normals.
• Noise-Accented Outline: Applying a pseudo-random number generator to add a 'sketchy' feel to outlines, reminiscent of the Flipnote's casual, low-res feel.

Despite challenges with interfacing with Unity's built-in functions and parsing through dense documentation, with assistance from peers and substantial research, I managed to pull through and learn a ton about programming shaders at the base level!