This section describes how to create a complete Scriptable Renderer Feature for a URP Renderer.
This walkthrough contains the following sections:
The example workflow on this page implements a custom Renderer Feature that uses custom Render Passes to add a blur effect to the camera output.
The implementation consists of the following parts:
A ScriptableRendererFeature
instance that enqueues a ScriptableRenderPass
instance every frame.
A ScriptableRenderPass
instance that performs the following steps:
Creates a temporary render texture using the RenderTextureDescriptor
API.
Applies two passes of the custom shader to the camera output using the TextureHandle
and the Blitter
API.
To set your project up for this example workflow:
Create a new Scene.
Create two GameObjects: a Cube GameObject called Cube
, and a Sphere GameObject called Sphere
.
Create two Materials with a shader that lets you specify the base color (for example, the Universal Render Pipeline/Lit
shader). Call the Materials Blue
and Red
, and set the base colors of the Materials to blue and red respectively.
Assign the Red
Material to the cube and the Blue
Material to the sphere.
Position the camera so that it has the cube and the sphere in its view.
In the URP Asset, set the property Quality > Anti Aliasing (MSAA) to Disabled. The purpose of this step is to simplify the example implementation.
The sample scene should look like the following image:
Create a new C# script and name it BlurRendererFeature.cs
.
In the script, remove the code that Unity inserted in the BlurRendererFeature
class.
Add the following using
directive:
using UnityEngine.Rendering.Universal;
Create the BlurRendererFeature
class that inherits from the ScriptableRendererFeature class.
public class BlurRendererFeature : ScriptableRendererFeature
In the BlurRendererFeature
class, implement the following methods:
Create
: Unity calls this method on the following events:
When the Renderer Feature loads the first time.
When you enable or disable the Renderer Feature.
When you change a property in the inspector of the Renderer Feature.
AddRenderPasses
: Unity calls this method every frame, once for each camera. This method lets you inject ScriptableRenderPass
instances into the scriptable Renderer.
Now you have the custom BlurRendererFeature
Renderer Feature with its main methods.
Below is the complete code for this step.
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.Rendering.Universal;
public class BlurRendererFeature : ScriptableRendererFeature
{
public override void Create()
{
}
public override void AddRenderPasses(ScriptableRenderer renderer,
ref RenderingData renderingData)
{
}
}
Add the Renderer Feature you created to the the Universal Renderer asset. For information on how to do this, refer to the page How to add a Renderer Feature to a Renderer.
This section demonstrates how to create a scriptable Render Pass and enqueue its instance into the scriptable Renderer.
Create a new C# script and name it BlurRenderPass.cs
.
In the script, remove the code that Unity inserted in the BlurRenderPass
class. Add the following using
directive:
using UnityEngine.Rendering;
using UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderGraphModule;
using UnityEngine.Rendering.Universal;
Create the BlurRenderPass
class that inherits from the ScriptableRenderPass class.
public class BlurRenderPass : ScriptableRenderPass
Add the RecordRenderGraph
method to the class. This method adds and configures render passes in the render graph. This process includes declaring render pass inputs and outputs, but does not include adding commands to command buffers. Unity calls this method every frame, once for each camera.
public override void RecordRenderGraph(RenderGraph renderGraph, ContextContainer frameData)
{ }
Below is the complete code for the BlurRenderPass.cs
file from this section.
using UnityEngine.Rendering;
using UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderGraphModule;
using UnityEngine.Rendering.Universal;
public class BlurRenderPass : ScriptableRenderPass
{
public override void RecordRenderGraph(RenderGraph renderGraph,
ContextContainer frameData)
{
}
}
This section demonstrates how to implement the settings for the custom blur render pass.
The Renderer Feature in this example uses the shader that performs the blur horizontally in one pass, and vertically in another pass. To let users control the blur value for each pass, add the following BlurSettings
class to the BlurRendererFeature.cs
script.
[Serializable]
public class BlurSettings
{
[Range(0,0.4f)] public float horizontalBlur;
[Range(0,0.4f)] public float verticalBlur;
}
In the BlurRendererFeature
class, declare the following fields:
[SerializeField] private BlurSettings settings;
[SerializeField] private Shader shader;
private Material material;
private BlurRenderPass blurRenderPass;
In the BlurRenderPass
class, add the fields for the settings, the Material, and the constructor that uses those fields.
private BlurSettings defaultSettings;
private Material material;
public BlurRenderPass(Material material, BlurSettings defaultSettings)
{
this.material = material;
this.defaultSettings = defaultSettings;
}
In the BlurRenderPass
class, add the RenderTextureDescriptor
field and initialize it in the constructor. The RenderTextureDescriptor
class lets you specify the properties of a render texture, such as the width, height, and format.
using UnityEngine;
private RenderTextureDescriptor blurTextureDescriptor;
public BlurRenderPass(Material material, BlurSettings defaultSettings)
{
this.material = material;
this.defaultSettings = defaultSettings;
blurTextureDescriptor = new RenderTextureDescriptor(Screen.width, Screen.height,
RenderTextureFormat.Default, 0);
}
In the BlurRenderPass
class, declare the PassData
class for storing the render pass input data. The RecordRenderGraph
method populates the data and the render graph passes it as a parameter to the rendering function. The TextureHandle
field stores the reference to the temporary input texture.
private class PassData
{
internal TextureHandle src;
internal Material material;
}
In the RecordRenderGraph
method, create the variable for storing the UniversalResourceData
instance from the frameData
parameter. UniversalResourceData
contains all the texture references used by URP, including the active color and depth textures of the camera.
UniversalResourceData resourceData = frameData.Get<UniversalResourceData>();
Declare the variables for interacting with the shader properties.
private static readonly int horizontalBlurId = Shader.PropertyToID("_HorizontalBlur");
private static readonly int verticalBlurId = Shader.PropertyToID("_VerticalBlur");
private const string k_BlurTextureName = "_BlurTexture";
private const string k_VerticalPassName = "VerticalBlurRenderPass";
private const string k_HorizontalPassName = "HorizontalBlurRenderPass";
In the RecordRenderGraph
method, declare the TextureHandle
fields to store the references to the input and the output textures. CreateRenderGraphTexture
is a helper method that calls the RenderGraph.CreateTexture
method.
TextureHandle srcCamColor = resourceData.activeColorTexture;
TextureHandle dst = UniversalRenderer.CreateRenderGraphTexture(renderGraph, blurTextureDescriptor, k_BlurTextureName, false);
In the BlurRenderPass
class, implement the UpdateBlurSettings
method that updates the shader values.
private void UpdateBlurSettings()
{
if (material == null) return;
// Use the Volume settings or the default settings if no Volume is set.
var volumeComponent =
VolumeManager.instance.stack.GetComponent<CustomVolumeComponent>();
float horizontalBlur = volumeComponent.horizontalBlur.overrideState ?
volumeComponent.horizontalBlur.value : defaultSettings.horizontalBlur;
float verticalBlur = volumeComponent.verticalBlur.overrideState ?
volumeComponent.verticalBlur.value : defaultSettings.verticalBlur;
material.SetFloat(horizontalBlurId, horizontalBlur);
material.SetFloat(verticalBlurId, verticalBlur);
}
In the RecordRenderGraph
method, add the variable for storing the UniversalCameraData
data, and set the RenderTextureDescriptor
values using that data.
UniversalCameraData cameraData = frameData.Get<UniversalCameraData>();
// The following line ensures that the render pass doesn't blit
// from the back buffer.
if (resourceData.isActiveTargetBackBuffer)
return;
// Set the blur texture size to be the same as the camera target size.
blurTextureDescriptor.width = cameraData.cameraTargetDescriptor.width;
blurTextureDescriptor.height = cameraData.cameraTargetDescriptor.height;
blurTextureDescriptor.depthBufferBits = 0;
In the RecordRenderGraph
method, add the function to continuously update the blur settings in the material.
// Update the blur settings in the material
UpdateBlurSettings();
// This check is to avoid an error from the material preview in the scene
if (!srcCamColor.IsValid() || !dst.IsValid())
return;
In the RecordRenderGraph
method, using the builder
variable, add the render pass for the vertical blur. The SetRenderFunc
method sets the rendering function for the render pass. In this example, the function blits the camera color to the render graph texture, using the first shader pass.
// Vertical blur pass
using (var builder = renderGraph.AddRasterRenderPass<PassData>(k_VerticalPassName,
out var passData))
{
// Configure pass data
passData.src = srcCamColor;
passData.material = material;
// Configure render graph input and output
builder.UseTexture(passData.src);
builder.SetRenderAttachment(dst, 0);
// Blit from the camera color to the render graph texture,
// using the first shader pass.
builder.SetRenderFunc((PassData data, RasterGraphContext context) =>
{
Blitter.BlitTexture(context.cmd, data.src, m_ScaleBias, data.material, 0);
});
}
The BlitTexture
method uses the m_ScaleBias
argument. add it in the BlurRenderPass
class.
private Vector4 m_ScaleBias = new Vector4(1f, 1f, 0f, 0f);
In the RecordRenderGraph
method, using the builder
variable, add the render pass for the horizontal blur. This pass uses the output of the previous pass as its input, it does that using the FrameBufferFetch
method. In this example, using this method lets URP merge two blur passes into a single render pass. Refer to the complete shader code for the implementation details.
// Horizontal blur pass
using (var builder = renderGraph.AddRasterRenderPass<PassData>(k_HorizontalPassName,
out var passData))
{
// Reset unused passData fields
passData.src = TextureHandle.nullHandle;
// Use the same material as the previous pass
passData.material = material;
// Use the output of the previous pass as the input,
// and bind it as FrameBufferFetch input
builder.SetInputAttachment(dst, 0);
// Use the input texture of the previous pass as the output
builder.SetRenderAttachment(srcCamColor, 0);
// Blit from the render graph texture to the camera color,
// using the second shader pass,
// which reads the input texture using the FrameBufferFetch method.
builder.SetRenderFunc((PassData data, RasterGraphContext context) =>
{
Blitter.BlitTexture(context.cmd, m_ScaleBias, data.material, 1);
});
}
The complete code for this part is in section Custom render pass code.
In this section, you instantiate the render pass in the Create
method of the BlurRendererFeature
class, and enqueue it in the AddRenderPasses
method.
In the Create
method of the BlurRendererFeature
class, instantiate the BlurRenderPass
class.
In the method, use the renderPassEvent
field to specify when to execute the render pass.
public override void Create()
{
if (shader == null)
{
return;
}
material = new Material(shader);
blurRenderPass = new BlurRenderPass(material, settings);
blurRenderPass.renderPassEvent = RenderPassEvent.AfterRenderingSkybox;
}
In the AddRenderPasses
method of the BlurRendererFeature
class, enqueue the render pass with the EnqueuePass
method.
public override void AddRenderPasses(ScriptableRenderer renderer, ref RenderingData renderingData)
{
if (renderingData.cameraData.cameraType == CameraType.Game)
{
renderer.EnqueuePass(blurRenderPass);
}
}
Implement the Dispose
method that destroys the material instance that the Renderer Feature creates.
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
#if UNITY_EDITOR
if (EditorApplication.isPlaying)
{
Destroy(material);
}
else
{
DestroyImmediate(material);
}
#else
Destroy(material);
#endif
}
For the complete Renderer Feature code, refer to section Custom Renderer Feature code.
The Scriptable Renderer Feature is now complete. The following image shows the effect of the feature in the Game view and the example settings.
The effect of the Scriptable Renderer Feature in the Game view.
This section shows how to implement a volume component that lets you control the input values for the custom renderer feature.
Create a new C# script and name it CustomVolumeComponent.cs
.
Inherit the CustomVolumeComponent
class from the VolumeComponent
class, add the [Serializable]
attribute to the class. Add the using UnityEngine.Rendering;
directive.
using System;
using UnityEngine.Rendering;
[Serializable]
public class CustomVolumeComponent : VolumeComponent
{
}
Add the BoolParameter
field to the CustomVolumeComponent
class. This field lets you enable or disable the custom renderer feature.
public class BlurVolumeComponent : VolumeComponent
{
public BoolParameter isActive = new BoolParameter(true);
}
Add the fields to control the blur settings defined in the custom renderer feature.
[Serializable]
public class CustomVolumeComponent : VolumeComponent
{
public BoolParameter isActive = new BoolParameter(true);
public ClampedFloatParameter horizontalBlur =
new ClampedFloatParameter(0.05f, 0, 0.5f);
public ClampedFloatParameter verticalBlur =
new ClampedFloatParameter(0.05f, 0, 0.5f);
}
In the BlurRenderPass
script, change the UpdateBlurSettings
method so that it uses the settings defined in a Volume or the default settings if no Volume is set.
private void UpdateBlurSettings()
{
if (material == null) return;
// Use the Volume settings or the default settings if no Volume is set.
var volumeComponent =
VolumeManager.instance.stack.GetComponent<CustomVolumeComponent>();
float horizontalBlur = volumeComponent.horizontalBlur.overrideState ?
volumeComponent.horizontalBlur.value : defaultSettings.horizontalBlur;
float verticalBlur = volumeComponent.verticalBlur.overrideState ?
volumeComponent.verticalBlur.value : defaultSettings.verticalBlur;
material.SetFloat(horizontalBlurId, horizontalBlur);
material.SetFloat(verticalBlurId, verticalBlur);
}
In the Unity scene, create a local Box Volume. If a Volume Profile is missing, create a new one by clicking New next to the Profile property. Add the Custom Volume Component
override to the Volume.
Enable the settings in the Custom Volume Component
override and set the values for this Volume. Move the Volume so that the camera is inside it. The settings from the Volume override the default settings from the custom renderer feature.
This section contains the complete code for all the scripts in this example.
Below is the complete code for the custom Renderer Feature script.
using System;
using UnityEditor;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.Rendering.Universal;
public class BlurRendererFeature : ScriptableRendererFeature
{
[SerializeField] private BlurSettings settings;
[SerializeField] private Shader shader;
private Material material;
private BlurRenderPass blurRenderPass;
public override void Create()
{
if (shader == null)
{
return;
}
material = new Material(shader);
blurRenderPass = new BlurRenderPass(material, settings);
blurRenderPass.renderPassEvent = RenderPassEvent.AfterRenderingSkybox;
}
public override void AddRenderPasses(ScriptableRenderer renderer,
ref RenderingData renderingData)
{
if (renderingData.cameraData.cameraType == CameraType.Game)
{
renderer.EnqueuePass(blurRenderPass);
}
}
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
#if UNITY_EDITOR
if (EditorApplication.isPlaying)
{
Destroy(material);
}
else
{
DestroyImmediate(material);
}
#else
Destroy(material);
#endif
}
}
[Serializable]
public class BlurSettings
{
[Range(0, 0.4f)] public float horizontalBlur;
[Range(0, 0.4f)] public float verticalBlur;
}
Below is the complete code for the custom Render Pass script.
using UnityEditor;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.Rendering;
using UnityEngine.Rendering.RenderGraphModule;
using UnityEngine.Rendering.Universal;
public class BlurRenderPass : ScriptableRenderPass
{
private static readonly int horizontalBlurId = Shader.PropertyToID("_HorizontalBlur");
private static readonly int verticalBlurId = Shader.PropertyToID("_VerticalBlur");
private const string k_BlurTextureName = "_BlurTexture";
private const string k_VerticalPassName = "VerticalBlurRenderPass";
private const string k_HorizontalPassName = "HorizontalBlurRenderPass";
private Vector4 m_ScaleBias = new Vector4(1f, 1f, 0f, 0f);
private BlurSettings defaultSettings;
private Material material;
private RenderTextureDescriptor blurTextureDescriptor;
public BlurRenderPass(Material material, BlurSettings defaultSettings)
{
this.material = material;
this.defaultSettings = defaultSettings;
blurTextureDescriptor = new RenderTextureDescriptor(Screen.width, Screen.height,
RenderTextureFormat.Default, 0);
}
private void UpdateBlurSettings()
{
if (material == null) return;
// Use the Volume settings or the default settings if no Volume is set.
var volumeComponent =
VolumeManager.instance.stack.GetComponent<CustomVolumeComponent>();
float horizontalBlur = volumeComponent.horizontalBlur.overrideState ?
volumeComponent.horizontalBlur.value : defaultSettings.horizontalBlur;
float verticalBlur = volumeComponent.verticalBlur.overrideState ?
volumeComponent.verticalBlur.value : defaultSettings.verticalBlur;
material.SetFloat(horizontalBlurId, horizontalBlur);
material.SetFloat(verticalBlurId, verticalBlur);
}
private class PassData
{
internal TextureHandle src;
internal Material material;
}
public override void RecordRenderGraph(RenderGraph renderGraph,
ContextContainer frameData)
{
UniversalResourceData resourceData = frameData.Get<UniversalResourceData>();
UniversalCameraData cameraData = frameData.Get<UniversalCameraData>();
// The following line ensures that the render pass doesn't blit
// from the back buffer.
if (resourceData.isActiveTargetBackBuffer)
return;
// Set the blur texture size to be the same as the camera target size.
blurTextureDescriptor.width = cameraData.cameraTargetDescriptor.width;
blurTextureDescriptor.height = cameraData.cameraTargetDescriptor.height;
blurTextureDescriptor.depthBufferBits = 0;
TextureHandle srcCamColor = resourceData.activeColorTexture;
TextureHandle dst = UniversalRenderer.CreateRenderGraphTexture(renderGraph,
blurTextureDescriptor, k_BlurTextureName, false);
// Update the blur settings in the material
UpdateBlurSettings();
// This check is to avoid an error from the material preview in the scene
if (!srcCamColor.IsValid() || !dst.IsValid())
return;
// Vertical blur pass
using (var builder = renderGraph.AddRasterRenderPass<PassData>(k_VerticalPassName,
out var passData))
{
// Configure pass data
passData.src = srcCamColor;
passData.material = material;
// Configure render graph input and output
builder.UseTexture(passData.src);
builder.SetRenderAttachment(dst, 0);
// Blit from the camera color to the render graph texture,
// using the first shader pass.
builder.SetRenderFunc((PassData data, RasterGraphContext context) =>
{
Blitter.BlitTexture(context.cmd, data.src, m_ScaleBias, data.material, 0);
});
}
// Horizontal blur pass
using (var builder = renderGraph.AddRasterRenderPass<PassData>(k_HorizontalPassName,
out var passData))
{
// Reset unused passData fields
passData.src = TextureHandle.nullHandle;
// Use the same material as the previous pass
passData.material = material;
// Use the output of the previous pass as the input,
// and bind it as FrameBufferFetch input
builder.SetInputAttachment(dst, 0);
// Use the input texture of the previous pass as the output
builder.SetRenderAttachment(srcCamColor, 0);
// Blit from the render graph texture to the camera color,
// using the second shader pass,
// which reads the input texture using the FrameBufferFetch method.
builder.SetRenderFunc((PassData data, RasterGraphContext context) =>
{
Blitter.BlitTexture(context.cmd, m_ScaleBias, data.material, 1);
});
}
}
}
Below is the complete code for the Volume Component script.
using System;
using UnityEngine.Rendering;
[Serializable]
public class CustomVolumeComponent : VolumeComponent
{
public BoolParameter isActive = new BoolParameter(true);
public ClampedFloatParameter horizontalBlur =
new ClampedFloatParameter(0.05f, 0, 0.5f);
public ClampedFloatParameter verticalBlur =
new ClampedFloatParameter(0.05f, 0, 0.5f);
}
This section contains the code for the custom shader that implements the blur effect.
Shader "CustomEffects/Blur"
{
HLSLINCLUDE
#include "Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal/ShaderLibrary/Core.hlsl"
// The Blit.hlsl file provides the vertex shader (Vert),
// the input structure (Attributes), and the output structure (Varyings)
#include "Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.core/Runtime/Utilities/Blit.hlsl"
float _VerticalBlur;
float _HorizontalBlur;
float4 BlurVertical (Varyings input) : SV_Target
{
const float BLUR_SAMPLES = 64;
const float BLUR_SAMPLES_RANGE = BLUR_SAMPLES / 2;
float3 color = 0;
float blurPixels = _VerticalBlur * _ScreenParams.y;
for(float i = -BLUR_SAMPLES_RANGE; i <= BLUR_SAMPLES_RANGE; i++)
{
float2 sampleOffset = float2 (0, (blurPixels / _BlitTexture_TexelSize.w) * (i / BLUR_SAMPLES_RANGE));
color += SAMPLE_TEXTURE2D(_BlitTexture, sampler_LinearClamp, input.texcoord + sampleOffset).rgb;
}
return float4(color.rgb / (BLUR_SAMPLES + 1), 1);
}
ENDHLSL
SubShader
{
Tags { "RenderType"="Opaque" "RenderPipeline" = "UniversalPipeline"}
LOD 100
ZWrite Off Cull Off
Pass
{
Name "BlurPassVertical"
HLSLPROGRAM
#pragma vertex Vert
#pragma fragment BlurVertical
ENDHLSL
}
Pass
{
Name "BlurPassHorizontal_FrameBufferFetch"
HLSLPROGRAM
#pragma vertex Vert
#pragma fragment Frag
FRAMEBUFFER_INPUT_X_HALF(0);
float4 Frag(Varyings input) : SV_Target
{
const float BLUR_SAMPLES = 64;
const float BLUR_SAMPLES_RANGE = BLUR_SAMPLES / 2;
UNITY_SETUP_STEREO_EYE_INDEX_POST_VERTEX(input);
float3 color = 0;
float blurPixels = _HorizontalBlur * _ScreenParams.x;
for(float i = -BLUR_SAMPLES_RANGE; i <= BLUR_SAMPLES_RANGE; i++)
{
float2 sampleOffset = float2 ((blurPixels / 1) * (i / BLUR_SAMPLES_RANGE), 0);
color += LOAD_FRAMEBUFFER_X_INPUT(0, input.positionCS.xy + sampleOffset).rgb;
}
return float4(color / (BLUR_SAMPLES + 1), 1);
}
ENDHLSL
}
}
}