Sprite Outline

In this “Unity Sprite Outline” tutorial we’ll discover how to create both a “Sprite Innerline” and a “Outer Sprite Outline”.
Simply, the Inner Sprite Outline shader is drawn “inside” the sprite, while “Outer” is the opposite
Read more about “Texture’s Texel Size” here.
HLSL
Inner Sprite Outline HLSL
Shader "Unlit/InnerSpriteOutline HLSL"
{
Properties
{
_MainTex ("Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
_OutlineColor("Outline Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
}
SubShader
{
Tags
{
"RenderType" = "Transparent"
}
Blend SrcAlpha OneMinusSrcAlpha
Pass
{
CGPROGRAM
#pragma vertex vert
#pragma fragment frag
#include "UnityCG.cginc"
struct appdata
{
float4 vertex : POSITION;
float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
};
struct v2f
{
float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
float4 vertex : SV_POSITION;
};
sampler2D _MainTex;
float4 _MainTex_ST;
float4 _MainTex_TexelSize;
fixed4 _OutlineColor;
v2f vert (appdata v)
{
v2f o;
o.vertex = UnityObjectToClipPos(v.vertex);
o.uv = TRANSFORM_TEX(v.uv, _MainTex);
return o;
}
fixed4 frag (v2f i) : SV_Target
{
fixed4 col = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv);
fixed leftPixel = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv + float2(-_MainTex_TexelSize.x, 0)).a;
fixed upPixel = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv + float2(0, _MainTex_TexelSize.y)).a;
fixed rightPixel = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv + float2(_MainTex_TexelSize.x, 0)).a;
fixed bottomPixel = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv + float2(0, -_MainTex_TexelSize.y)).a;
fixed outline = (1 - leftPixel * upPixel * rightPixel * bottomPixel) * col.a;
return lerp(col, _OutlineColor, outline);
}
ENDCG
}
}
}
Outer Sprite Outline HLSL
To have achieve an “Outline” instead of an “Innerline”, just change the “outline” line (in the previous code snippet) into this:
fixed outline = max(max(leftPixel, upPixel), max(rightPixel, bottomPixel)) - col.a;
Amplify Shader
Inner Sprite Outline ASE

Outer Sprite Outline ASE

Thanks for reading! ❤️
Let us know what you think! We're a small team and we are loving what we do, so any feedback is appreciated ❤️ You can also consider joining the newsletter (either weekly or monthly, we care deeply about it) and never miss our new posts. Cheers!
✦ Join the newsletterMore Posts
The Best Gamescom so far! August 2025
We just attended Gamescom (and devcom) this year and they were the best one for us so far!! Here's a short update about the general mood and more thoughts.
How to dynamically scale font size in Godot
We wrote a custom script to scale font sizes dynamically in Godot, so that we can make a better and responsive UI for different resolutions. Read More!
I'm giving a talk at devcom 2025!
I am giving a talk at devcom 2025 about the many lessons I have learned while developing and selling Text Animator for Unity! I'll also make a post here in the future... read more!
A good week for Godot! August 2025
From Battlefield 6 to GMTK's Game Jam, it was a good week for Godot!
Resuming content and tools!
We are ready to post new content and tools!! Text Animator for Godot, for Unity 3.X, a game in development and more.
Is the Games Industry Still going Downhill? April 2025
Some games industry vibe check after attending Reboot Blue in Croatia, 2025. The industry is going forward and things seem to slowly move back again.. read more!
Comments