Shader-based Portals and Water [Unity / URP / Shader Graph]

Shader-based water in Unity, designed in Shader Graph and integrated with URP (Universal Render Pipeline).
This shader incorporates reflection, refraction, distortion, and ripple effects for a gorgeous result.

Shader-based magical portal in Unity, designed in Shader Graph and integrated with URP (Universal Render Pipeline).
This shader incorporates distortion and HDR colors for a magical result.

Before settling on the final version of the shader-based water, I started with a "Simple Water" version with no refraction, no reflection, and no distortion -- rapidly designed in Shader Graph.

Iterating from the "Simple Water", I created "Refractive Water" by adding refraction to create the appearance of water depth. Notice how you can see the bottoms of the islands.

Iterating from "Refractive Water", I added reflection and distortion to create the final version of the shader-based water. Notice how you can see the islands' reflections in the water surface.