Soften shadows
Make your shadows appear softer in HDRP by adjusting settings such as Filtering Quality property, sample counts, and light shape properties.
For more information on shadows in HDRP, refer to Shadows.
You can soften your shadows in HDRP to make them appear less sharp and more diffuse. HDRP controls shadow softness primarily through the Filtering Quality property, which determines the shadow filtering algorithm and sample count.
Filtering quality levels
| Filtering quality | Algorithm for punctual light | Algorithm for directional light | Algorithm for area light |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | PCF 3x3 (4 taps) | PCF Tent 5x5 (9 taps) | (N/A) |
| Medium | PCF 5x5 (9 taps) | PCF Tent 5x5 (9 taps) | EVSM |
| High | PCSS | PCSS | PCSS |
Low and Medium filtering quality levels use Percentage Closer Filtering (PCF), which applies a fixed size blur.
High filtering quality uses Percentage Closer Soft Shadow (PCSS), which applies a different blur size depending on the distance between the shadowed pixel and the shadow caster. This creates a more natural penumbra effect and results in a more realistic shadow. However, this is more resource-intensive to compute so it's not recommended for consoles.
Optimize soft shadows
For the softest shadows, set the Filtering Quality for your shadow type to High. When you use the High filtering quality, you can also fine-tune softness and performance in the Light Inspector for your needs by adjusting the following properties:
- Filter Sample Count and Blocker Sample Count. A lower sample count decreases the resource intensity of PCSS, which reduces shadow quality but improves performance.
- Radius Scale for Softness or Angular Diameter Scale for Softness.
- Point and Spot Lights: Radius (Light > Shape > Radius).
- Directional Lights: Angular Diameter (Light > Shape > Angular Diameter).
- Area Lights: Near Plane (Light > Shadows > Shadow Map > Near Plane).