Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic Aberration mimics the effect that a real-world camera produces when its lens fails to join all colors to the same point.
For more information on the Chromatic Aberration effect, see the Chromatic Aberration documentation in the Unity Manual.
Using Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic Aberration uses the Volume framework, so to enable and modify Chromatic Aberration properties, you must add a Chromatic Aberration override to a Volume in your Scene. To add Chromatic Aberration to a Volume:
- In the Scene or Hierarchy view, select a GameObject that contains a Volume component to view it in the Inspector.
- In the Inspector, go to Add Override > Post-processing and select Chromatic Aberration. HDRP now applies Chromatic Aberration to any Camera this Volume affects.
API
To access and control this override at runtime, use the Volume scripting API. Because of how the Volume system works, you edit properties in a different way to standard Unity components. There are also other nuances to be aware of too, such as each property has an overrideState. This indicates to the Volume system whether to use the property value you set, or use the default value stored in the Volume Profile. For information on how to use the API correctly, see Volume scripting API.
Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Spectral Lut | Assign a Texture to use for a custom fringing color. Leave this field empty to use the default Texture. |
| Intensity | Use the slider to set the strength of the Chromatic Aberration effect. |
| Quality | Specify the quality level HDRP uses for performance relevant parameters: • Custom: Set your own Max Samples value, using the slider below. • Low: Use the low Max Samples value, predefined in your HDRP Asset. • Medium: Use the medium Max Samples value, predefined in your HDRP Asset. • High: Use the high Max Samples value, predefined in your HDRP Asset. |
| Max Samples | Use the slider to set the maximum number of samples that HDRP uses to render the Chromatic Aberration effect. |
Details
From 2019.3, HDRP provides lookup Textures that you can use to customize this effect. These lookup Textures are for the Spectral Lut property. To add these Textures to your Unity Project, you must use the Package Manager:
- Select Window > Package Manager.
- In the Packages window, select High Definition RP.
- In the High Definition RP section, go to Additional Post-processing Data and select Import into Project.
- The Textures that are relevant to Chromatic Aberration are in the Spectral LUTs folder, so if you only want the lookup Textures for Chromatic Aberration, only import the contents of the Spectral LUTs folder.
Care is needed when using the Bloom effect with Chromatic Abberation. For performance reasons, Chromatic Aberation is computed after the Bloom computation. This results in Bloom overpowering the Chromatic Aberration effect when the Bloom Intensity is set to a very high value. However, in a typical Bloom configuration, the Intensity should never need to be set high enough for this to be an issue.