GL

Description

Low-level graphics library.

Use this class to manipulate active transformation matrices, issue rendering commands similar to OpenGL's immediate mode and do other low-level graphics tasks. Note that in almost all cases using Graphics.RenderMesh or CommandBuffer is more efficient than using immediate mode drawing.

GL immediate drawing functions use whatever is the "current material" set up right now (see Material.SetPass). The material controls how the rendering is done (blending, textures, etc.), so unless you explicitly set it to something before using GL draw functions, the material can happen to be anything. Also, if you call any other drawing commands from inside GL drawing code, they can set material to something else, so make sure it's under control as well.

GL drawing commands execute immediately. That means if you call them in Update(), they will be executed before the camera is rendered (and the camera will most likely clear the screen, making the GL drawing not visible).

The usual place to call GL drawing is most often in OnPostRender() from a script attached to a camera, or inside an image effect function (OnRenderImage).

_Note:_ The High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) and the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) do not support OnPostRender. Instead, use endCameraRendering or endFrameRendering.

using UnityEngine;

public class ExampleClass : MonoBehaviour
{
    // When added to an object, draws colored rays from the
    // transform position.
    public int lineCount = 100;
    public float radius = 3.0f;

    static Material lineMaterial;
    static void CreateLineMaterial()
    {
        if (!lineMaterial)
        {
            // Unity has a built-in shader that is useful for drawing
            // simple colored things.
            Shader shader = Shader.Find("Hidden/Internal-Colored");
            lineMaterial = new Material(shader);
            lineMaterial.hideFlags = HideFlags.HideAndDontSave;
            // Turn on alpha blending
            lineMaterial.SetInt("_SrcBlend", (int)UnityEngine.Rendering.BlendMode.SrcAlpha);
            lineMaterial.SetInt("_DstBlend", (int)UnityEngine.Rendering.BlendMode.OneMinusSrcAlpha);
            // Turn backface culling off
            lineMaterial.SetInt("_Cull", (int)UnityEngine.Rendering.CullMode.Off);
            // Turn off depth writes
            lineMaterial.SetInt("_ZWrite", 0);
        }
    }

    // Will be called after all regular rendering is done
    public void OnRenderObject()
    {
        CreateLineMaterial();
        // Apply the line material
        lineMaterial.SetPass(0);

        GL.PushMatrix();
        // Set transformation matrix for drawing to
        // match our transform
        GL.MultMatrix(transform.localToWorldMatrix);

        // Draw lines
        GL.Begin(GL.LINES);
        for (int i = 0; i < lineCount; ++i)
        {
            float a = i / (float)lineCount;
            float angle = a * Mathf.PI * 2;
            // Vertex colors change from red to green
            GL.Color(new Color(a, 1 - a, 0, 0.8F));
            // One vertex at transform position
            GL.Vertex3(0, 0, 0);
            // Another vertex at edge of circle
            GL.Vertex3(Mathf.Cos(angle) * radius, Mathf.Sin(angle) * radius, 0);
        }
        GL.End();
        GL.PopMatrix();
    }
}

Note: This class is almost always used when you need to draw a couple of lines or triangles, and don't want to deal with meshes. If you want to avoid surprises the usage pattern is this:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class ExampleClass : MonoBehaviour
{
    void OnPostRender()
    {
        // Set your materials
        GL.PushMatrix();
        // yourMaterial.SetPass( );
        // Draw your stuff
        GL.PopMatrix();
    }
}

Where at the "// Draw your stuff" you should do SetPass() on some material previously declared, which will be used for drawing. If you dont call SetPass, then you'll get basically a random material (whatever was used before) which is not good. So do it.

Static Properties

Static Methods