Unity Trail Renderer

/*
 Generates a trail that is always facing upwards using the scriptable mesh interface.
 vertex colors and uv's are generated similar to the builtin Trail Renderer.
 To use it
 1. create an empty game object
 2. attach this script and a MeshRenderer
 3. Then assign a particle material to the mesh renderer
*/
var height = 2.0;
var time = 2.0;
var alwaysUp = false;
var minDistance = 0.1;

var startColor = Color.white;
var endColor = Color (1, 1, 1, 0);

class TronTrailSection
{
  var point : Vector3;
	var upDir : Vector3;
	var time : float;
}

private var sections = new Array();

function LateUpdate () {
	var position = transform.position;
	var now = Time.time;

	// Remove old sections
	while (sections.length > 0 && now > sections[sections.length - 1].time + time) {
		sections.Pop();
	}

	// Add a new trail section
	if (sections.length == 0 || (sections[0].point - position).sqrMagnitude > minDistance * minDistance)
	{
		var section = TronTrailSection ();
		section.point = position;
		if (alwaysUp)
			section.upDir = Vector3.up;
		else
			section.upDir = transform.TransformDirection(Vector3.up);
		section.time = now;
		sections.Unshift(section);
	}
	
	// Rebuild the mesh
	var mesh : Mesh = GetComponent(MeshFilter).mesh;
	mesh.Clear();
	
	// We need at least 2 sections to create the line
	if (sections.length < 2)
		return;

	var vertices = new Vector3[sections.length * 2];
	var colors = new Color[sections.length * 2];
	var uv = new Vector2[sections.length * 2];
	
	var previousSection : TronTrailSection = sections[0];
	var currentSection : TronTrailSection = sections[0];

	// Use matrix instead of transform.TransformPoint for performance reasons
	var localSpaceTransform = transform.worldToLocalMatrix;

	// Generate vertex, uv and colors
	for (var i=0;i<sections.length;i++)
	{
		previousSection = currentSection;
		currentSection = sections[i];
		// Calculate u for texture uv and color interpolation
		var u = 0.0;		
		if (i != 0)
			u = Mathf.Clamp01 ((Time.time - currentSection.time) / time);
		
		// Calculate upwards direction
		var upDir = currentSection.upDir;
		
		// Generate vertices
		vertices[i * 2 + 0] = localSpaceTransform.MultiplyPoint(currentSection.point);
		vertices[i * 2 + 1] = localSpaceTransform.MultiplyPoint(currentSection.point + upDir * height);
		
		uv[i * 2 + 0] = Vector2(u, 0);
		uv[i * 2 + 1] = Vector2(u, 1);
		
		// fade colors out over time
		var interpolatedColor = Color.Lerp(startColor, endColor, u);
		colors[i * 2 + 0] = interpolatedColor;
		colors[i * 2 + 1] = interpolatedColor;
	}

	// Generate triangles indices
	var triangles = new int[(sections.length - 1) * 2 * 3];
	for (i=0;i<triangles.length / 6;i++)
	{
		triangles[i * 6 + 0] = i * 2;
		triangles[i * 6 + 1] = i * 2 + 1;
		triangles[i * 6 + 2] = i * 2 + 2;

		triangles[i * 6 + 3] = i * 2 + 2;
		triangles[i * 6 + 4] = i * 2 + 1;
		triangles[i * 6 + 5] = i * 2 + 3;
	}

	// Assign to mesh	
	mesh.vertices = vertices;
	mesh.colors = colors;
	mesh.uv = uv;
	mesh.triangles = triangles;
}

@script RequireComponent (MeshFilter)