To reduce the number of batches broken by texture changes and achieve good performance, use an atlas to group together textures used at the same time. You can achieve this with either of the following methods:
VisualElement
class. You can style the look, define the behaviour, and display it on screen as part of the UI. More infoWhen you use dynamic atlas to group together textures, to limit the number of draw calls, make sure that your textures enter the dynamic atlas. To verify, use the Frame Debugger. Frame Debugger helps you to observe texture changes and deduce batch breaking.
The following example verifies that the dynamic atlas contains all the textures in runtime UI.
The dynamic atlas texture starts from a specified minimum size, and grows as needed, doubling horizontally or vertically, up to a specified maximum size. You can define the minimum and maximum atlas sizes in the Panel Settings asset. You can also use the filters in the dynamic atlas to decide whether to add a sub-texture to the atlas.
To enable or disable the filters, in the Panel Settings asset’s Inspector window, select the options from Dynamic Atlas Settings > Active Filters dropdown list.
You can assign a custom filter to PanelSettings.dynamicAtlasSettings.customFilter
to add or relax constraints on a global or per-texture basis.
The following custom filter example bypasses a large texture from the Size filter while keeping the Size filter active for other textures:
using UnityEngine; using UnityEngine.UIElements; class MyCustomFilter : MonoBehaviour { public PanelSettings panelSettings; public Texture2D largeTexture; void OnEnable() { panelSettings.dynamicAtlasSettings.customFilter = Filter; } void OnDisable() { panelSettings.dynamicAtlasSettings.customFilter = null; } bool Filter(Texture2D texture, ref DynamicAtlasFilters filtersToApply) { if (texture == largeTexture) { // Disable the Size check for this one. filtersToApply &= ~DynamicAtlasFilters.Size; } return true; } }
When new elements appear in the UI, their textures are added to the dynamic atlas until the atlas reaches or exceeds the Max Atlas Size specified in the Dynamic Atlas Settings.
On devices with limited memory, you might need to set a lower Max Atlas Size than the default, such as 2048
pixelsThe smallest unit in a computer image. Pixel size depends on your screen resolution. Pixel lighting is calculated at every screen pixel. More info
See in Glossary instead of 4096
pixels.
When textures are added or removed from the atlas, it can lead to fragmentation, creating small spaces where previous textures were, which are too small to reallocate to other textures.
To maximize the usage of the atlas and avoid fragmentation, you need to manually reset its contents by calling the RuntimePanelUtils.ResetDynamicAtlas()
extension method, which requires accessing the panel
property of a VisualElement
.
Consider resetting the dynamic atlas based on your application’s behaviour, for example when you remove or add large amounts of visual elements.
The following example shows how to use the RuntimePanelUtils.ResetDynamicAtlas()
extension method:
using UnityEngine; using UnityEngine.UIElements; [RequireComponent(typeof(UIDocument))] class DynamicAtlasResetExample : MonoBehaviour { VisualElement rootVisualElement => GetComponent<UIDocument>().rootVisualElement; public void OnEnable() { rootVisualElement.Add(new Button(ResetAtlas) { text = "Reset Dynamic Atlas"}); } private void ResetAtlas() { rootVisualElement.panel.ResetDynamicAtlas(); } }
Did you find this page useful? Please give it a rating:
Thanks for rating this page!
What kind of problem would you like to report?
Thanks for letting us know! This page has been marked for review based on your feedback.
If you have time, you can provide more information to help us fix the problem faster.
Provide more information
You've told us this page needs code samples. If you'd like to help us further, you could provide a code sample, or tell us about what kind of code sample you'd like to see:
You've told us there are code samples on this page which don't work. If you know how to fix it, or have something better we could use instead, please let us know:
You've told us there is information missing from this page. Please tell us more about what's missing:
You've told us there is incorrect information on this page. If you know what we should change to make it correct, please tell us:
You've told us this page has unclear or confusing information. Please tell us more about what you found unclear or confusing, or let us know how we could make it clearer:
You've told us there is a spelling or grammar error on this page. Please tell us what's wrong:
You've told us this page has a problem. Please tell us more about what's wrong:
Thank you for helping to make the Unity documentation better!
Your feedback has been submitted as a ticket for our documentation team to review.
We are not able to reply to every ticket submitted.
When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.
More information
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising. Some 3rd party video providers do not allow video views without targeting cookies. If you are experiencing difficulty viewing a video, you will need to set your cookie preferences for targeting to yes if you wish to view videos from these providers. Unity does not control this.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.