2D Metaballs

2D Metaballs in Screen Space (using Particle System)

Overview

A simple screen space 2D metaball system using URP's Renderer Feature. This project is partly based on daniel-ilett's Metaball System.

This version leverages the Paricle System in Unity to simulate 2D particle physics.

For particle system:

• Attach Metaball2DParticles.cs to Particle System GameObject
• Adjustable particle size and color

For Renderer Feature:

• Set the max limit for number of metaballs and outline size
• Noise texture for distortion

Limitations

Currently, metaballs will only be drawn/previewed in Play mode. Since it is a screen space effect, then the metablls will draw over any object visible by the camera. To ensure that objects are rendered over the metaballs, you can add a new overlay camera with a dedicated layer and Renderer for rendering the foreground objects. The shader is also setup to work only with orthographic camera.

Software

Created in Unity 2021.3.29f1 with URP 12.1.12.