Rendering & effects¶

Change how things look at runtime — tint renderers, swap material properties, drive lights and particle systems, and manage 2D sprites. Get the component with GetComponent<T>() (or a public field) and drive it.

Visuals are local

Color, light, and particle changes render on each player's client. A script that runs everywhere produces the same look for everyone — good for deterministic effects (a button that glows when pressed). Don't use a one‑client visual change to communicate authoritative state.

Renderer — tint & material¶

Renderer is the mesh's draw component. The quickest tint is SetColor/GetColor:

Renderer r = GetComponent<Renderer>();
r.SetColor(Color.red);              // tint the material's main color
Color c = r.GetColor();
r.enabled = false;                  // stop drawing (object still exists)
Material m = r.material;            // this instance's material (safe to modify)

material vs sharedMaterial

r.material gives this object's own copy — changing it affects only this object. r.sharedMaterial is the asset shared by every object using it — changing that re‑colors them all. Use material unless you intend a global change.

Material — shader properties¶

Drive any material property by name (matching the shader's property names):

Material m = GetComponent<Renderer>().material;
m.color = new Color(0.2f, 0.6f, 1f);
m.SetFloat("_Metallic", 0.8f);
m.SetColor("_EmissionColor", Color.cyan * 2f);   // glow
float v = m.GetFloat("_Glossiness");
m.mainTexture = otherMat.mainTexture;

color · mainTexture · GetColor/SetColor(name, c) · GetFloat/SetFloat(name, f) · GetInt/SetInt(name, i).

Light¶

Light lamp = GetComponent<Light>();
lamp.enabled = true;
lamp.color = Color.yellow;
lamp.intensity = 2.5f;
lamp.range = 12f;          // point/spot falloff distance
lamp.spotAngle = 45f;      // spot cone

A pulsing lamp:

protected override void Update()
{
    lamp.intensity = 1.5f + Mathf.Sin(Time.time * 3f) * 0.5f;   // 1.0..2.0
}

enabled · color · intensity · range · spotAngle · type.

ParticleSystem¶

ParticleSystem fx = GetComponent<ParticleSystem>();
fx.Play();
fx.Emit(20);              // burst of 20 right now
fx.Stop();
fx.Clear();              // remove live particles
bool done = fx.isStopped && fx.particleCount == 0;

Play · Stop · Pause · Clear · Emit(count) · isPlaying · isStopped · particleCount · time.

Sprites (2D)¶

SpriteRenderer draws a sprite in the world:

SpriteRenderer sr = GetComponent<SpriteRenderer>();
sr.color = Color.white;
sr.flipX = true;
sr.sortingOrder = 5;       // draw order
sr.enabled = true;

SpriteRegistry is a helper for sprite‑indexed UI Images — card games, slot reels, inventory icons. Register sprites by index once, then swap an Image to any index:

SpriteRegistry.Clear();
SpriteRegistry.LoadFromResources(0, "Cards/ace_spades");   // index -> sprite from Resources
SpriteRegistry.LoadFromResources(1, "Cards/king_hearts");
SpriteRegistry.SetBack(cardImage);     // show the "back" sprite (face down)
SpriteRegistry.SetImage(cardImage, 0); // reveal index 0 (ace of spades)
SpriteRegistry.HideImage(cardImage);   // transparent, object stays active
SpriteRegistry.ShowImage(cardImage);   // opaque again


`LoadFromResources(index, path)`	register a sprite from `Resources/` at an index
`SetImage(image, index)`	show that sprite on a UI Image
`SetBack(image)` · `HideImage` · `ShowImage`	back sprite / transparent / opaque
`Clear()`	drop all registrations (before re‑populating)

Quick reference¶

Group	Calls
Renderer	`SetColor` · `GetColor` · `enabled` · `material` · `sharedMaterial`
Material	`color` · `mainTexture` · `SetColor/Float/Int(name,…)` · `GetColor/Float/Int(name)`
Light	`enabled` · `color` · `intensity` · `range` · `spotAngle` · `type`
Particles	`Play` · `Stop` · `Pause` · `Clear` · `Emit` · `isPlaying` · `particleCount`
Sprites	`SpriteRenderer.color/flipX/flipY/sortingOrder` · `SpriteRegistry.LoadFromResources/SetImage/SetBack/Hide/Show`

→ Use Math & vectors for the colors here, UI for screen images, and see SlotMachineGame.cs for SpriteRegistry in action.