Fade by Distance

Fade by Distance modulates the material’s alpha by the camera-to-surface distance. Genesis lets you fade in or out between smooth start and end bounds, and pairs with Dither Transparency for sort-free fades.

When to use it

First-person hands and arms — fade out when too close to walls.
Camera occluders — buildings between camera and player.
Foliage culling — fade billboards in or out at draw distance.
Proximity LODs — switch effects on as the player approaches.

Pair with Dither Transparency

Default alpha blending disables shadow casting and requires the Transparent queue. To keep a fading mesh casting shadows and in the Opaque queue, combine Fade by Distance with Dither Transparency.

How it works

The shader computes length(positionWS - _WorldSpaceCameraPos) per pixel, applies smoothstep(_FadeStart, _FadeEnd, distance) (or its inverse), and multiplies the result into the surface alpha. With _FadeInvert enabled the curve runs the other way, fading in instead of out.

Properties

Inspector label	Shader property	Type	Default	Description
Enable Fade	_FadeByDistance	Toggle	Off	Master toggle.
Fade Start	_FadeStart	Float (0–100)	5.0	Distance where the fade begins.
Fade End	_FadeEnd	Float (0–100)	20.0	Distance at full transparency (or full opacity if inverted).
Invert	_FadeInvert	Toggle	Off	Off = fade out when far, On = fade in when far.
Curve	_FadeCurve	Enum	Smoothstep	Linear or Smoothstep.
Min Alpha	_FadeMinAlpha	Float (0–1)	0.0	Floor the alpha will not drop below.

Usage

Enable Fade by Distance and set Start / End in world units.
For FP arms, set Start = 0.6, End = 0.3, and Invert off so it fades as you get close.
For distant foliage, set Start = 30, End = 50, and Invert on so it fades in as you approach.
Combine with Dither Transparency if you need shadows.


material.SetFloat("_FadeByDistance", 1f);
material.SetFloat("_FadeStart", 0.6f);
material.SetFloat("_FadeEnd", 0.3f);

Tips & gotchas

Distance is measured to the surface, not the object center, so large meshes near the camera partially fade.
Combine with cutout if you also have hard-edged transparency; Genesis evaluates both correctly.
Cost is one length() plus a smoothstep, so it is trivial on mobile.
Distance uses the average eye position in VR, which looks correct in stereo.

Dither Transparency — shadow-friendly fade.
See-Through — silhouette behind walls.
Surface Settings — blend mode controls fade behavior.
Hologram — pair for sci-fi proximity reveals.