Rendering Debugger

The Rendering Debugger is a window you can customize with your own controls and scripts to visualize your project's lighting, rendering, or Material properties.

If your project uses a custom Scriptable Render Pipeline (SRP), you can add controls to the default empty window.

If your project uses the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) or the High-Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), refer to the following pages:

• Add controls to the Rendering Debugger in URP
• Add controls to the Rendering Debugger in HDRP

How to access the Rendering Debugger

The Rendering Debugger window is available in the following modes:

Mode	Platform	Availability	How to Open the Rendering Debugger
Editor	All	Yes (window in the Editor)	Select Window > Analysis > Rendering Debugger
Play mode	All	Yes (overlay in the Game view)	On a desktop or laptop computer, press LeftCtrl+Backspace (LeftCtrl+Delete on macOS) On a console controller, press L3 and R3 (Left Stick and Right Stick)
Runtime	Desktop/Laptop	Yes (only in Development builds)	Press LeftCtrl+Backspace (LeftCtrl+Delete on macOS)
Runtime	Console	Yes (only in Development builds)	Press L3 and R3 (Left Stick and Right Stick)
Runtime	Mobile	Yes (only in Development builds)	Use a three-finger double tap

To disable the runtime UI, use the enableRuntimeUI property.

Navigation at runtime

Keyboard

Action	Control
Change the current active item	Use the arrow keys
Change the current tab	Use the Page up and Page down keys (Fn + Up and Fn + Down keys respectively for MacOS)
Display the current active item independently of the debug window	Press the right Shift key

Xbox Controller

Action	Control
Change the current active item	Use the Directional pad (D-Pad)
Change the current tab	Use the Left Bumper and Right Bumper
Display the current active item independently of the debug window	Press the X button

PlayStation Controller

Action	Control
Change the current active item	Use the Directional buttons
Change the current tab	Use the L1 button and R1 button
Display the current active item independently of the debug window	Press the Square button

Add a control

The Rendering Debugger window can contain multiple tabs ('panels'). When you select a panel, the window displays one or more controls ('widgets').

To create a widget and add it to a new panel, do the following:

1. Create a script that uses using UnityEngine.Rendering; to include the UnityEngine.Rendering namespace.
2. Create a widget by creating an instance of a child class of DebugUI.Widget, for example DebugUI.Button.
3. In the widget, implement the onValueChanged callback, which Unity calls when you change the value in the widget.
4. Create a panel using DebugUI.instance.GetPanel.
5. Add the widget to an array.
6. Add the widget array to the list of children in the panel.

If you add 2 or more widgets to the array, the panel displays the widgets in the same order as the array.

The following code sample creates and adds a widget that enables or disables the main directional light:

using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.Rendering;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

[ExecuteInEditMode]
public class CustomDebugPanel : MonoBehaviour
{

    static bool lightEnabled = true;

    void OnEnable()
    {
        // Create a list of widgets
        var widgetList = new List<DebugUI.Widget>();

        // Add a checkbox widget to the list of widgets
        widgetList.AddRange(new DebugUI.Widget[]
        {
            new DebugUI.BoolField
            {
                displayName = "Enable main directional light",
                tooltip = "Enable or disable the main directional light",
                getter = () => lightEnabled,

                // When the widget value is changed, change the value of lightEnabled
                setter = value => lightEnabled = value,

                // Run a custom function to enable or disable the main directional light based on the widget value
                onValueChanged = DisplaySunChanged
            },
        });

        // Create a new panel (tab) in the Rendering Debugger
        var panel = DebugManager.instance.GetPanel("My Custom Panel", createIfNull: true);

        // Add the widgets to the panel
        panel.children.Add(widgetList.ToArray());
    }

    // Remove the custom panel if the GameObject is disabled
    void OnDisable()
    {
        DebugManager.instance.RemovePanel("My Custom Panel");
    }

    // Enable or disable the main directional light based on the widget value
    void DisplaySunChanged(DebugUI.Field<bool> field, bool displaySun)
    {
        Light sun = FindObjectsOfType<Light>().Where(x => x.type == LightType.Directional).FirstOrDefault();
        if (sun)
            sun.enabled = displaySun;
    }
}

Add the script to a GameObject. You should see a new My Custom Panel panel in the Rendering Debugger window.

Add a control to an existing panel

You can only add properties to existing panels if you're using a custom SRP. You shouldn't add widgets to URP or HDRP's built-in Rendering Debugger panels.

To fetch an existing panel, use DebugManager.instance.GetPanel with the panel name. Set createIfNull to false, so you don't accidentally create a new panel if the name doesn't match an existing panel.

The following code sample fetches the panel from the code sample above:

var panel = DebugManager.instance.GetPanel("My Custom Panel", createIfNull: false);

Add a container

You can use containers to display groups of widgets together.

1. Create a container using one of the child classes of DebugUI.Container, for example DebugUI.Foldout.
2. Add a widget array using the container's Add method.

The following example creates a collapsible container that contains 2 checkboxes:

using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.Rendering;
using System.Collections.Generic;

[ExecuteInEditMode]
public class CustomDebugPanelWithContainer : MonoBehaviour
{
    void OnEnable()
    {
        // Create a list of widgets
        var widgetList = new List<DebugUI.Widget>();

        // Add 2 checkbox widgets to the list of widgets
        widgetList.AddRange(new DebugUI.Widget[]
        {
            new DebugUI.BoolField
            {
                displayName = "Visualisation 1",
            },
            new DebugUI.BoolField
            {
                displayName = "Visualisation 2",
            },
        });

        // Create a container
        var container = new DebugUI.Foldout
        {
            displayName = "My Container"
        };

        // Add the widgets to the container
        container.children.Add(widgetList.ToArray());

        // Create a new panel (tab) in the Rendering Debugger
        var panel = DebugManager.instance.GetPanel("My Custom Panel With Container", createIfNull: true);

        // Add the container to the panel
        panel.children.Add(container);
    }
}

Control the Rendering Debugger overlay

To change the value of the currently active widget:

• On a keyboard, press the Left and Right arrow keys.
• On a touch screen, tap the arrows next to the properties.
• On an Xbox controller, use the Directional pad (D-Pad).
• On a PlayStation controller, use the Directional buttons.

To change the current panel:

• On a Windows keyboard, use the Page up and Page down keys (macOS: fn + Up arrow key, and fn + Down arrow key).
• On a touch screen, tap the arrows next to the tab title.
• On an Xbox controller, use the Left Bumper and Right Bumper.
• On a PlayStation controller, use L1 and R1.

To display the currently active widget independently of the debug window:

• On a keyboard, press Right Shift.
• On an Xbox controller, press X.
• On a PlayStation controller, press Square.

Disable the Rendering Debugger

To disable the Rendering Debugger in your built application, set DebugManager.enableRuntimeUI to false.