Stylized Comic Shader System
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The Challenge
The goal was to recreate the distinctive halftone dot patterns and printed texture of traditional comic books while preserving the original 2D art style in a 3D environment.
A key challenge was maintaining a consistent, camera-aligned halftone appearance as characters rotate, rather than having the dot patterns follow conventional UV-based texture mapping.
Since Dodgeball Dojo is a mobile game, texture efficiency was also an important consideration. Instead of creating numerous character-specific texture maps, I aimed to develop a reusable shader system that could apply shared 2D textures to different model regions while maintaining visual consistency.
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Technical Solution — RGBA-Based Texture Mapping
I developed a custom shader workflow using RGBA-based material regions and structured UV mapping to assign different 2D textures to specific areas of a 3D model.
Unlike traditional character texturing, which typically relies on character-specific texture maps aligned to individual UV layouts, this approach allows multiple surface regions to reuse independent, tileable 2D textures through a shared shader system.
To preserve the visual style of traditional printed comics, the texture patterns are designed to remain camera-facing, maintaining a consistent halftone dot appearance regardless of the character's viewing angle.
This workflow was designed to reduce the need for unique texture maps for each character while maintaining a cohesive, hand-printed comic aesthetic. Additional UV channels support transparency and character-specific details.
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Shader Workflow Breakdow
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Shader Graph Breakdown
Complete Shader Graph
Camera-Aligned
Texture MappingCustom camera-alignment logic keeps the texture patterns visually consistent as the character rotates, preserving the appearance of traditional printed comic textures.
Individual Texture Zones
Each of the four texture zones supports independent 2D texture inputs and color adjustments, allowing different model regions to share a reusable shading workflow.
RGBA Masking & Transparency
RGBA mask channels are used to combine the four texture regions into the final material output, while a separate alpha map controls transparent details.
