Hi,

I'm trying to figure out how to combine 3D character with the 2D isometric tiles.

I'm making the tile based isometric game with the 3D characters and 2D sprites as tiles. I'm using 2:1 isometric projection for the tiles. The engine is Unity.

As first I was thinking to use 2 cameras, one for the all 2D sprites/tiles and other one for the 3D character. I could use some custom depth sorting (writing custom depth/position maps to Z buffer) for sprites and 3D models and in the end combine the 2 outputs. I don't know if it is really feasible to share depth buffer for the 2 cameras and combine the final image based on it.

Another approach would be to use only 1 camera, but rotate it 30 degrees around X (so the player is moving on the XZ plane and to match the sprites) and draw the sprites parallel to the camera (to be pixel perfect). The sorting could be problematic here and also positioning of the sprites. Honestly, I cannot imagine to how it should work.

I've also looked at the shadowrun returns, how they're doing it https://shadowrun-returns.wikispaces.com/How+to+Set+Up+Props . It looks like they're generating the geometry from the sprites somehow (or better term is, projecting it on the 3D box) which are then used alongside the 3D characters. But I would know detail explanation of it.

So what is the best method for combining the 3D characters with 2D isometric sprites?

I'll be greatful for all the relevant suggestions.

Thank You