To use lighting in a custom Universal Render PipelineA series of operations that take the contents of a Scene, and displays them on a screen. Unity lets you choose from pre-built render pipelines, or write your own. More info
See in Glossary (URP) shaderA program that runs on the GPU. More info
See in Glossary, follow these steps:
#include "Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal/ShaderLibrary/Lighting.hlsl"
inside the HLSLPROGRAM
in your shader file.The Lighting.hlsl
file imports the RealtimeLights.hlsl
file, which contains the following methods.
Method | Syntax | Description |
---|---|---|
GetMainLight |
Light GetMainLight() |
Returns the main light in the sceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info See in Glossary. |
GetAdditionalLight |
Light GetAdditionalLight(uint lightIndex, float3 positionInWorldSpace) |
Returns the lightIndex additional light that affects positionWS . For example, if lightIndex is 0 , this method returns the first additional light. |
GetAdditionalLightsCount |
int GetAdditionalLightsCount() |
Returns the number of additional lights. Note: this function always returns 0 in the Forward+ rendering pathThe technique that a render pipeline uses to render graphics. Choosing a different rendering path affects how lighting and shading are calculated. Some rendering paths are more suited to different platforms and hardware than others. More info See in Glossary. For more information, refer to Iterate over additional lights in the Forward+ rendering path. |
Refer to Use shadows in a custom URP shader for information on versions of these methods you can use to calculate shadows.
Method | Syntax | Description |
---|---|---|
LightingLambert |
half3 LightingLambert(half3 lightColor, half3 lightDirection, half3 surfaceNormal) |
Returns the diffuse lighting for the surface normal, calculated using the Lambert model. |
LightingSpecular |
half3 LightingSpecular(half3 lightColor, half3 lightDirection, half3 surfaceNormal, half3 viewDirection, half4 specularAmount, half smoothnessAmount) |
Returns the specular lighting for the surface normal, using simple shading. |
The Lighting.hlsl
file imports the AmbientOcclusion.hlsl
file, which contains the following methods.
Method | Syntax | Description |
---|---|---|
SampleAmbientOcclusion |
half SampleAmbientOcclusion(float2 normalizedScreenSpaceUV) |
Returns the ambient occlusion value at the position in screen space, where 0 means occluded and 1 means unoccluded. |
GetScreenSpaceAmbientOcclusion |
AmbientOcclusionFactor GetScreenSpaceAmbientOcclusion(float2 normalizedScreenSpaceUV) |
Returns the indirect and direct ambient occlusion values at the position in screen space, where 0 means occluded and 1 means unoccluded. |
Refer to Ambient occlusionA method to approximate how much ambient light (light not coming from a specific direction) can hit a point on a surface.
See in Glossary for more information.
Use the GetScreenSpaceAmbientOcclusion
method to return this struct.
Field | Description |
---|---|
half indirectAmbientOcclusion |
The amount the object is in shadow from ambient occlusion caused by objects blocking indirect light. |
half directAmbientOcclusion |
The amount the object is in shadow from ambient occlusion caused by objects blocking direct light. |
Use the GetMainLight
and GetAdditionalLight
methods to return this struct.
Field | Description |
---|---|
half3 direction |
The direction of the light. |
half3 color |
The color of the light. |
float distanceAttenuation |
The strength of the light, based on its distance from the object. |
half shadowAttenuation |
The strength of the light, based on whether the object is in shadow. |
uint layerMask |
The layer maskA value defining which layers to include or exclude from an operation, such as rendering, collision or your own code. More info See in Glossary of the light. |
The following URP shader draws object surfaces with the amount of light they receive from the main directional light.
Shader "Custom/LambertLighting" { SubShader { Tags { "RenderType" = "Opaque" "RenderPipeline" = "UniversalPipeline" } Pass { HLSLPROGRAM #pragma vertex vert #pragma fragment frag #include "Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal/ShaderLibrary/Lighting.hlsl" struct Attributes { float4 positionOS : POSITION; float2 uv: TEXCOORD0; }; struct Varyings { float4 positionCS : SV_POSITION; float2 uv: TEXCOORD0; half3 lightAmount : TEXCOORD2; }; Varyings vert(Attributes IN) { Varyings OUT; OUT.positionCS = TransformObjectToHClip(IN.positionOS.xyz); // Get the VertexNormalInputs of the vertex, which contains the normal in world space VertexNormalInputs positions = GetVertexNormalInputs(IN.positionOS); // Get the properties of the main light Light light = GetMainLight(); // Calculate the amount of light the vertex receives OUT.lightAmount = LightingLambert(light.color, light.direction, positions.normalWS.xyz); return OUT; } half4 frag(Varyings IN) : SV_Target { // Set the fragment color to the interpolated amount of light return float4(IN.lightAmount, 1); } ENDHLSL } } }
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.