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godot shaders

Marching ants selection outline

Mark a selected sprite with the classic animated dashed outline: alternating dark and light dashes move along the edge of the sprite's alpha shape, drawn inside or outside the edge.

Recorded render of Marching ants selection outline

What this component contains

  • ATTRIBUTION.md
  • LICENSE
  • README.md
  • component.json
  • demo.tscn
  • inspect_shader.py
  • material.tres
  • preview.png
  • sprite_marching_ants.gdshader
  • test_package.py
  • verification/native.json

How it works

Shader type
canvas_item
Parameters
dash_dark (vec4 = 0.05, 0.05, 0.05, 1), dash_light (vec4 = 1, 1, 1, 1), dash_pixels (float = 6), speed (float = 12), width (int = 1), outside (bool = yes), alpha_cutoff (float = 0.5)
Use it on
A Sprite2D (or other textured CanvasItem) with transparent space around its shape, assigned to the node as usual.
Result
The sprite outlined by small alternating black and white dashes.
Renderers
compatibility: compiled and rendered, forward plus: not verified, mobile: not verified
Placement
res://baltor/godot_shaders/sprite_marching_ants/

Recorded checks

godot 4.7.2.stable.official.ed1daf0bf

  • contract_static
  • engine_run
  • engine_log_clean
  • shader_in_scene
  • capture_written
  • render_not_uniform
  • shader_changes_pixels

Limits to consider

Dashes follow a screen-space diagonal pattern, not the arc length of the outline, so their spacing varies with edge direction. Effects outside the shape are drawn inside the texture rectangle, so the texture needs a margin.