culling & layers confusion

Question

If make a custom layer and I make an object be that layer then I can set the camera to Culling Mask that layer, and it wont show up.

in the docs it says:

// Only render objects in the first layer (Default layer) camera.cullingMask = 1 << 0;

What are the layer numbers? what does << mean? less than 1? why two '<''s

What script would I need to be able to press a key and hide say stuff that was on one of my custom layers?

thanks

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by qJake · Jun 19, 2010 at 06:18 PM

First, read up on Bitshift Operators.

Then, read the Layers page in the Unity docs, that explains how to select different layers.

In your case, you would want to do something like this, if your object was on User layer 8:

Camera.main.cullingMask = ~(1 << 8);

Because 8 is the layer mask your "selective" object is on, and the ~ operator reverses all bits, specifying "all but this layer".

And to reset it to render everything:

Camera.main.cullingMask = ~(0);

Edit:

Since you finally described what you wanted, after an incredibly large amount of comments, this will work if you stick it in Update somewhere. Fill in however many layers you want.

if(Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Alpha1))
{
     Camera.main.cullingMask = 1 | 1 << 8;
}
else if(Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Alpha2))
{
    Camera.main.cullingMask = 1 | 1 << 9; 
}
else if // etc ...

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bruno martelli_legacy · Jun 19, 2010 at 06:48 PM 0

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Thanks but how do i know what the layer numbers are and also i sort have a bunch of stuff in the scene i want to see, and then some other stuff i need to hide, so how can i show the default and hide/show a custom layer?

bruno martelli_legacy · Jun 19, 2010 at 06:53 PM 0

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ok i get the layer numbers but the bitshifty thing?! thats a brainmelter for me...

qJake · Jun 19, 2010 at 06:58 PM 1

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You don't need to understand that entirely, I just explained that the "8" in the code was your layer number that you want things to be hidden on, and the second piece of code will reset the camera to draw everything.

bruno martelli_legacy · Jun 19, 2010 at 07:00 PM 0

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ive ooked at some other websites for bitshifting and im sorry just dont get it at all. I just want layer 8, or 9, or 10, or 11 and always the default layers. Wouldnt it be easier just to use numbers???

qJake · Jun 19, 2010 at 07:04 PM 0

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You don't need to understand it in order to make your code work. If you want to hide an object, put it on layer 8, and use the first code, which renders everything except layer 8, and if you want to display everything, you use the second code. I think you're making this out to be more complicated than it really is.

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Answer 2

Answer by Guru.du · Jun 19, 2010 at 09:11 PM

This wouldn't so much HIDE stuff on a custom layer but doing something like the following can set it to cull at certain distances taken from: Camera.layerCullDistance page. If, like me, you were just looking to hide things after a certain distance this is much easier. I had been juggling layers in the same way, this is a much cleaner approach to what I was looking for. Hope it helps, if not there are plenty of good suggestions up top.

function Start  ()
{
var distances = new float[32];
// Set up layer 10 to cull at 15 meters distance.
// All other layers use the far clip plane distance.
distances[10] = 15;
camera.layerCullDistances = distances;
}

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