So for a little while now ive been wondering how to do an “air distortion” on roblox, like how air above a fire distorts or around smoke. This kind of effect would look amazing with some combat skills in a game im working on.
This is the effect im aiming for: Unity VFX Graph - Heat Distortion Effect Tutorial - YouTube
People have suggested using glass, forcefields, and even foil with reflectance at 1 and low transparency but these never made the effect i was hoping for. Some have outright told me it is also impossible, which may just be true.
Today though i was messing with terrain water and had the dumbest idea. Maybe i can use the water for a distortion effect?
https://gyazo.com/6cafd69c7ae8a3ed9c6c2f991fb68b16
https://gyazo.com/2146f2245a9984b528d724a580293f59
As you can see, with water transparency at 1 its like an invisible barrier is bending the air and light around everything that is on the other end of the water.
This is the cheapest but closest thing i have find to being able to mimic air distortion. The downside is that the water cannot stay a simple shape like an oval or anything, its always spiky and weird looking.
Let me know if you have any criticisms about using this method or if you think it will work well. Im very desperate rn for some cool vfx regarding combat skills, and this is the best thing i could hope for atm.