Optimizations

Adjust the Level of Detail (LOD)

To optimize performance, you must minimize the number of triangles on the screen at any one time. In a scene with many trees, the best way to minimize the number of trianles with the Level of Detail (LOD) system.

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LOD Bias

To influence the way that LOD settings behave in the template overall, you can use the LOD Bias value, located in the HDRP Quality Settings:

  • A value less than 1 accelerates the transition to a lower LOD.
  • A value greater than 1 delays the transition.

You can observe the LOD Bias value fluctuate as you check different quality levels.

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Maximum LOD Level

To control the level of quality, you can identify a threshold for the Highest LOD that the system displays with the Maximum LOD Level value.

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Shadow Casters

Shadow casting negatively impacts performance. To minimize the number of shadow draw calls, we removed shadow casting for the last LODs of all the trees.

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Details

To minimize the impact of shadow casting on performance, meshes painted in the Detail section of the terrain do not cast shadows.

Important: Details do not support LODs. Only use them with very small objects.

Screen Space Shadows

The template relies on Screen Space Shadow to compensate for the reduced shadow casting.

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Occlusion Walls

This section of the Hällered test ground facility is relatively even. To facilitate occlusion, we exaggerated the terrain elevations.

We also used Occlusion meshes for a solid occlusion, and to reduce the number of tree instances required.

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Terrain Split

The terrain has been edited as one big terrain. To optimize rendering, we the terrain split into a grid of 16x16 terrain tiles.

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For more information on Terrain Splitting, See Miscellaneous Tools.

Note: Some scattering tools do not function correctly after you split the terrain into tiles.