Custom Pass

A Custom Pass controls how Unity renders the objects in a scene. You can configure a Custom Pass using a Custom Pass Volume. Custom pass Volumes function in a similar way to HDRP Volumes. A Custom Pass allows you to do the following:

  • Change the appearance of materials in your scene.
  • Change the order that Unity renders GameObjects in.
  • Allows Unity to read camera buffers to shaders.

For example, you can use a Custom Pass to blur the background of a camera’s view while the in-game UI is visible.

Unity executes a Custom Pass at a certain point during the HDRP render loop using an Injection Point. You can change the injection point to control how the Custom Pass affects the appearance of your scene.

You define the visual effect of a Custom Pass in a Unity shader, and then assign a material that uses that Unity shader to the Custom Pass Volume. You can create a Unity shader to use in a Custom Pass using Shader Graph, or you can write a Unity shader using C# and HLSL. For information about writing your own Custom Pass Unity shader, see Custom Renderers Pass shader.

A Custom Pass affecting multiple GameObjects in the Camera’s view