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All content in this course uses:

Create a Hologram shader with Vertex Displacement

: animated deformation of the mesh geometry itself. This creates a more dynamic, unstable hologram effect where the GameObject's shape subtly shifts and distorts over time. By the end, you'll have created a 

shader and learned how to use them to create animated geometry effects.

By the end of this tutorial, you'll understand the following:

 node to blend between original and displaced positions.

shaders that operate at the pixel level, controlling colors, transparency, and emission.

, on the other hand, operate on mesh geometry. They run once for each vertex (corner) of the 3D model and can modify vertex positions before the mesh is rendered. This allows you to create animated deformation effects like waves, distortion, or, in this case, holographic instability.

 creates animated geometry by offsetting vertex positions based on noise or other data. For the 

 shader, this will make the mesh subtly shift and distort, enhancing the futuristic, unstable projection effect.

course, which covers different units focused on different types of shaders. In case you haven't downloaded the project files, follow these instructions on how to 

create a new project and import the project assets

Overview

Rather than building from scratch, you'll duplicate the existing 

 shader and expand it with vertex displacement. This reuses all the work you've already done. Complete the 

tutorial before continuing this tutorial.

To duplicate the Hologram shader, follow these instructions:

Rename the duplicated shader "HologramVertex".

You'll modify this shader to add vertex displacement.

 Duplicate the Hologram shader

Now you'll add a GameObject into your scene and apply the

 material to it. This lets you see your shader working in real-time as you build it.

 material to it, follow these instructions:

 GameObject over the small table that's already placed in the scene.

The GameObjects provided with this course are specially crafted to showcase shader effects effectively. If you use your own custom GameObjects, the shader will still work, but the visual results may look slightly different depending on the GameObject’s shape and UV layout.

 This shader can also be applied to any type of screen that needs to mimic the appearance of an old or futuristic device. For example, you could use the 

 prefab instead, and apply the material only to the 

 child GameObject to achieve a similar effect.

Add a GameObject and apply a material

The vertex displacement also needs a noise texture to define how the geometry moves. Just like the line and flicker effects earlier, a noise pattern is used to drive the animation. In this case, you’ll reuse the 

 noise so the vertex displacement follows the same pattern as the line effect. However, you could use any other noise texture to define a different geometry displacement.

To add another LinesTexture sample for displacement, follow these instructions:

 node used in other tutorials, but it allows you to sample a texture with 

 input, you might notice that the connection doesn’t work. This happens because the standard 

 input to come from the mesh’s default UVs, while 

 allows you to manually control how the texture is sampled and how UVs are applied.

This reuses the same animated UV coordinates you created for the scan lines, ensuring the vertex displacement animates in sync with the other visual effects.

Add another LinesTexture sample for displacement

The raw noise values might create too subtle displacement. You'll multiply them to be able to increase the effect intensity.

To duplicate the displacement intensity, follow these instructions:

, you double the displacement intensity, making the vertex animation more visible without requiring an additional property.

 input value or even create a property to control it externally if you desire.

Duplicate the displacement intensity

You’ve defined how much the vertices should displace, but to apply the displacement, you first need their current positions. You’ll use a 

To create an Object space Position node, follow these instructions:

 means positions are relative to the GameObject’s local origin (

 at the GameObject’s pivot point). This is crucial for vertex displacement because you want to offset vertices relative to the GameObject itself, not world space. This ensures the displacement effect moves with the GameObject correctly.

Create an Object space Position node

Now you'll combine the original vertex position with the noise-driven offset to create the displaced position.

To calculate the displaced position, follow these instructions:

 output (Object position from the last step) to the 

This defines how much each vertex should move based on the noise pattern.

2. Add the vertex offset position to the original position

This adds the offset to the original vertex position, displacing vertices outward based on the noise values.

 window, you’ll notice the result appears chaotic, with very intense displacement. This happens because the calculation done in this step (

(original position × offset) + original position

) produces very exaggerated values, creating sharp spikes in the geometry. To fix this, you need a way to control the displacement and smoothly blend between the original (stable) position and the offset (displaced) position. You’ll achieve this in the next steps.

Once you are ready to continue, disconnect

Calculate displaced position

As you saw in the preview, the vertex displacement currently is very extreme. You'll create a property to control the displacement scale.

To create a VertexOffset property, follow these instructions:

 The slider range values were chosen based on our own experiments and aren’t definitive. You can adjust it if you find a range that gives you better results.

The current vertex displacement is distorting the mesh significantly. In this case, small values (

) are sufficient to create visible effects without extreme distortion. The slider range keeps the displacement controlled and aesthetically appropriate.

Create a VertexOffset property

To control displacement intensity so it changes smoothly and not abruptly, you'll use a

 node to blend between the original (stable) and offset (displaced) positions.

To lerp between the original and displaced positions, follow these instructions:

Lerp between original and displaced positions

Now you'll connect the displaced positions to the 

To connect the displaced positions to the Vertex Position output, follow these instructions:

 should be visible on the right, above the 

If you don't see it, you may need to scroll to the 

 output controls where each vertex is rendered. By feeding displaced positions here, you animate the mesh geometry itself, creating hologram distortion and instability effects that affect the actual shape of the GameObject, not just its surface appearance. You can now see this effect in the model of the

Your vertex displacement is now active. Look at your GameObject in the 

 view. You should see the mesh subtly shifting and distorting based on the animated noise. The effect will appear smoother once you enter Play

 node updates continuously during Play mode, but not in

mode, where updates are limited to optimize performance. Once you select the 

button, the animation runs in real time, and the effect should appear as intended.

Connect to Vertex Position output

You can now fine-tune the hologram with vertex displacement effect by adjusting the shader parameters exposed in the material’s 

To adjust the shader parameters, follow these instructions:

 window, verify all textures are assigned:

In case there you’re using another object and there is no reference, assign the object’s base texture.

: In case there’s no reference, assign the 

 Check that all properties are correctly assigned, as materials can lose default references.

 view camera to see the GameObject from different angles.

 properties until you achieve the desired hologram with vertex displacement appearance.

 button in the Unity Editor. Observe the animated 2D sprite. The hologram effect should remain consistent throughout the animation.

 Green and bluish colors often work well for screen-like devices or holographic effects. Also remember that small values for the 

) are usually enough to create visible displacement. Using higher values will produce a more dramatic deformation effect.

Adjust shader parameters

 shader is finished, save your work and create a prefab so the object can be reused easily.

folder. This creates a prefab that stores the GameObject, its material, and its components.

window, disable the checkbox in the GameObject header to deactivate it. This helps keep the scene organized.

 window open only saves the shader. Scene changes must be saved separately.

The prefab is now saved and ready to reuse, and the shader can be applied to any other objects by creating new materials from it.

Create prefab and save

Take a moment to review the final shader graph created in this tutorial and compare it with your own. Make sure all nodes are properly connected and that all properties are correctly declared.

Review your Shader

You've expanded the hologram shader with vertex displacement, creating animated geometry deformation. You’ve now worked with both 

shaders, learned how to modify vertex positions in the 

 matters for displacement, and how to use 

 to blend between original and displaced positions.

You’ve completed this unit and created the shaders introduced in this section. This unit is part of the 

 course, which is organized into multiple units that explore different shader techniques, we encourage you to check out our other units.

Unity Version 6.3