Pixel art, dithering & retro
Pixel art, dithering, limited palettes and retro CRT looks, in 2D and in 3D rendered at low resolution. This section covers pixel-perfect cameras, palette swaps, dither patterns and the shader tricks that give 3D scenes a PS1 or pixel-art feel. 20 hand-picked Unity guides, tutorials, videos and repos, kept current.
- Breaking down Moon Reader's 2.5D pixel art style in Unity
How a 2.5D pixel art look was made in Unity, simpler than it appears.
jettelly.com · Jul 2026 - Replicating the Shadowglass 3D pixel-art technique
Recreates the Shadowglass look for first-person 3D pixel art, explaining how the technique works.
tesseractc.at · ~Feb 2026 - Retro Shaders Pro - A Technical Breakdown
Devlog on PS1 visual limits (wobbly vertices, affine textures) and how each was recreated in shaders.
danielilett.com · Jan 2026 - Cozy Space Survivors: breakdown of assets and effects (ArtStation)
Breakdown of how the pixel art assets and effects of a cozy survivors game were made.
artstation.com · Oct 2024 - patreon.com
Bonus Patreon post on selective effects in Unity.
patreon.com · ~Mar 2024 - Lofi 3D pixel art explorations
Low-res 3D pixel look in Unity via point-filtered render textures or a pixelate post effect.
alexstrook.blogspot.com · ~Jul 2023 - Unity Retro Effect (PSOne) shader tutorial - Decompiled Art
Tools: Unity Universal Render Pipeline (URP), High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), ShaderGraph
youtube.com · Jun 2023 - PlayStation 1 Affine Texture Mapping in Shader Code
Reproduces PlayStation 1 affine texture warping in shader code for a retro look.
danielilett.com · Nov 2021 - Retro CRT Shader Breakdown
Breakdown of a retro CRT shader.
cyangamedev.wordpress.com · Sep 2020 - Ultra Effects | Part 9 - Obra Dithering
Recreates the stable dithered look of Return of the Obra Dinn in Unity.
danielilett.com · Feb 2020 - https://www.ronja-tutorials.com/post/042-dithering/
Ronja tutorial on dithering in shaders for transparency effects.
ronja-tutorials.com · May 2019 - Dithering
Uses dithering to simulate more shades than a limited color palette allows.
ronja-tutorials.com · May 2019 - https://www.ronja-tutorials.com/post/040-halftone-shading/
Ronja tutorial on halftone shading in Unity.
ronja-tutorials.com · Mar 2019 - Shader Showcase Saturday #11: Return of the Obra Dinn
Analyzes the aesthetic of Return of the Obra Dinn and how to recreate it with shaders.
alanzucconi.com · Oct 2018 - Pixel-Perfect Outline Shaders for Unity
Creates pixel-perfect outline shaders with stable screen-space width.
videopoetics.com · Jan 2018 - Shaders Case Study - Pixel Art Palette Swapping
Case study on swapping pixel art palettes with shaders.
youtube.com · Sep 2016 - What is Color Banding? And what is it not?
Explains what color banding is and how to avoid it.
simonschreibt.de · Dec 2015 - Pixelation Shader
Tutorial on creating a pixelation shader.
alexanderameye.github.io - GBCamera for Unity by rogueNoodle
Itch.io asset: camera setup and shader that emulate Game Boy visuals in Unity.
roguenoodle.itch.io - 2D Water Shader Breakdown
Breakdown of a 2D water shader with pixelated highlights, distortion, reflections and shoreline ripples.
cyanilux.com