3D artist and developer Mert Emir Erte showed the new 3D menu they made for Paws and Shine, an upcoming cozy decorating game set on a cat island, where players can clean, restore, and decorate different spaces.
I'm a 3D artist, so I inadequate at 2D UI. Instead, I made the main menu entirely 3D to play to my strengths. What is your first impression?
by u/This-Room-2708 in Unity3D
It starts by the menu constantly sending a raycast from the camera toward the mouse position, and if that ray hits one of the button colliders, the game knows the player is interacting with it.
void Update() {
Ray ray = mainCamera.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition);
if (Physics.Raycast(ray, out RaycastHit hit)) {
if (hit.collider.gameObject == this.gameObject) {
ApplyHoverEffects();
if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0)) {
StartCoroutine(PressAnimation());
}
}Since the buttons are real 3D objects inside the scene, Mert added a few extra effects to make hovering and clicking feel more satisfying.
When the cursor moves over a button, the object scales up slightly over time using Vector3.Lerp so the transition feels less abrupt. The buttons also change color using a MaterialPropertyBlock, which lets the game update material values .
For the glow effect, the text and icons use a separate material assigned in Blender, so only the glowing parts need to be updated when the player hovers a button. During the interaction, the emission intensity is smoothly increased through code.
propBlock.SetColor("_Color", targetColor);
buttonRenderer.SetPropertyBlock(propBlock);
currentEmissionColor = Color.Lerp(
currentEmissionColor,
targetEmissionColor,
Time.deltaTime * transitionSpeed
);
emissionMaterial.SetColor("_EmissionColor", currentEmissionColor);Clicking a button also has its own small animation, and not only code running in the background, the button moves backward a bit and quickly returns to its original position using a Coroutine.
According to Mert, that small movement, combined with the glow flash and the click sound, was meant to make the interaction feel more like pressing a real mechanical button.
IEnumerator PressAnimation() {
Vector3 pressedPos =
originalLocalPos - Vector3.forward * pressDepth;
float elapsed = 0f;
while (elapsed < pressDuration) {
elapsed += Time.deltaTime;
transform.localPosition = Vector3.Lerp(
originalLocalPos,
pressedPos,
elapsed / pressDuration
);
yield return null;
}
ExecuteAction();
}As Mert said, a big reason for building the menu this way was simply to stay inside an area they already felt comfortable with as a 3D artist.
If you want to see more from them or follow the development of Paws and Shine, the links will be right below.
I just published the Steam page for my cozy game and I'd love some early feedback on the level design does this feel like a world you'd want to decorate?
by u/This-Room-2708 in IndieDev
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