Hologram

Hologram bundles the four signature ingredients — scrolling scan lines, random flicker, a Fresnel edge glow, and a tinted transparent body — into a single material toggle. Drop it onto any mesh for an instant sci-fi projection.

Video

A character mesh rendered as a cyan hologram with scan lines scrolling upward, an occasional flicker frame, and a bright Fresnel edge glow.

features/hologram/hologram-scanlines.mp4

Scrolling scan lines, flicker, and a Fresnel edge on a transparent cyan body.

When to use it

Sci-fi UI projections — character readouts, map markers.
Ghosts and spirits — combined with vertex animation for floating wisps.
Spawn-in effects — fade from hologram to solid as a unit deploys.
Tutorials — translucent guides over real geometry.

Order of operations

Hologram is composited after the lighting pass but before fog and the transparency blend. Stacking Dissolve on top makes the dissolve band glow along the holo lines — the canonical “rezzing out” look.

How it works

Genesis evaluates and sums four terms: a base translucent tint, a scan-line pattern from sin(uv.y * _ScanDensity + _Time * _ScanSpeed), a flicker mask sampled from a hash, and a Fresnel edge using pow(1 - NdotV, _EdgePower). Final alpha is _HologramAlpha + edgeFresnel.

Standard lit prop.

Translucent cyan body, horizontal scan lines, edge fresnel, and occasional flicker frames.

Off

Hologram · cyan + scan

A lit mesh against its holographic projection. Drag to compare.

Properties

Inspector label	Shader property	Type	Default	Description
Hologram Color	_HologramColor	Color (HDR)	RGB(0.3, 0.8, 1.0)	Base tint of the hologram.
Body Alpha	_HologramAlpha	Float (0–1)	0.3	Body transparency.
Scan Speed	_ScanLineSpeed	Float (0–10)	1.0	Vertical scroll speed of the scan lines.
Scan Density	_ScanLineDensity	Float (1–400)	120	Lines per UV unit.
Scan Intensity	_ScanLineIntensity	Float (0–1)	0.4	Scan-line brightness.
Flicker Speed	_FlickerSpeed	Float (0–30)	10	Flicker frequency.
Flicker Intensity	_FlickerIntensity	Float (0–1)	0.2	Flicker amplitude. 0 = stable.
Edge Power	_EdgeFresnelPower	Float (0.1–8)	3.0	Edge glow sharpness.
Edge Intensity	_EdgeFresnelIntensity	Float (0–8)	2.0	HDR multiplier on the edge glow.

Usage

Enable Hologram and switch the material to Transparent.
Pick a base Color — cyan, green, and magenta are the sci-fi staples.
Tune Scan Density to taste: 80 for chunky retro, 200 for crisp modern.
Disable shadow casting on the renderer; holograms should not cast.


material.SetColor("_HologramColor", new Color(0.3f, 0.9f, 1.0f) * 2.0f);
material.SetFloat("_ScanLineSpeed", 0.5f);
material.SetFloat("_FlickerIntensity", 0.15f);

Tips & gotchas

Disable shadow casting on the renderer so the hologram does not drop a black shadow.
Set the render queue to 3000 or higher to sort behind opaques.
Pair with Vertex Animation (a gentle wobble) for a live-projection feel.
The four sin/hash evaluations are negligible; the Bloom step that follows is the expensive part.

Dissolve — stack for rezzing in and out.
Emission — the edge fresnel feeds Bloom.
Vertex Animation — wobble for a live-projection feel.
Fade by Distance — fade the holo in as the player approaches.