Settings

The XR Composition Layers package provides some preferences that determine how composition layers are displayed in the Editor. There are also some graphics settings that you must adjust to ensure that the composition layers display correctly in the Editor and at runtime.

Preferences

The XR Composition Layers package adds the following settings to the Unity Preferences:

Setting Description
Display Angles As Choose whether the various angle values that you can set in the Composition Layer components use degrees or radians.
Emulation in Scene Show composition layers in the Scene view.
Emulation In Play Mode Show composition layers in the Game view while in Play mode when no XR provider is active or no headset connected.
Tip

Emulation of composition layers is not perfect and can sometimes interfere with normal scene editing and troubleshooting. You can use the emulation preferences to turn off emulation in such cases.

Refer to Preferences for more information about the Unity Editor Preferences window.

Runtime settings

To enable layer emulation in a standalone Win, Mac, Linux build:

  1. Navigate to the Assets/CompositionLayers/UserSettings/Resources folder in your Project window. (This folder is created automatically when you import the XR Composition Layers package.)
  2. Select the CompositionLayersRuntimeSettings asset to view its properties in the Inspector.
  3. Enable the Emulation in Standalone option.
Tip

You must also add the Uber shader to the Always Include Shaders list to make sure that this shader, which is needed to render emulated layers, is included in your standalone builds.

Graphics settings

XR Composition Layers Emulation relys on a specific shader that must be added to the Always Include Shaders list for the project.

If the project uses the Universal Render Pipeline (URP), the Emulation Layer Renderer Feature is automatically added.

If the project uses the High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), the Emulation Layer Custom Pass is automatically added to the global CustomPassVolume.

Always Include Shaders list

For emulation of layers in a standalone Win, Mac, Linux build, add the Unlit/XRCompositionLayers/Runtime/Uber shader to the list of shaders that are always included in a project build:

  1. Open the Project Settings window (menu: Edit > Project Settings).

  2. Select the Graphics section.

  3. Expand the Always Included Shaders list, if necessary.

  4. Increase the Size value by one to add another element to the list.

  5. Click the object picker icon of the new element to open the Select Shader dialog.

  6. Click the crossed-out eye icon at the top, right-hand side of the dialog to include shaders in packages in the selection list -- otherwise, the Uber shader is not shown.

  7. Type, "Uber" in the search field at the top of the dialog.

  8. Double-click the Uber shader in the list to add it to the always included shaders.

Always Included Shader settings
The Always Included Shaders list with the Uber shader successfully added

Tip

Make sure that the Emulation in Standalone setting is enabled under Runtime settings.

Emulation Layer Renderer Feature (URP)

To support layer emulation in projects using the Universal Renderer Pipeline (URP), the EmulationLayerUniversalScriptableRendererFeaturePass(ScriptableRendererPass) is automatically added with ScriptableRenderer.EnqueuePass().

Tip

No need to Add Renderer Feature to the Universal Renderer Data asset. It had to be set manually in the past version.

Note

If using Underlays with URP in Unity 6, Compatibility Mode (Render Graph Disable) must be selected to render emulated underlay layers.

  1. Open the Project Settings window (menu: Edit > Project Settings).

  2. Select the Graphics section.

  3. Click on the URP Tab.

  4. Under the Render Graph section select Compatibility Mode (Render Graph Disable) button.

Emulation Layer Custom Pass (HDRP)

To support layer emulation in projects using the High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), the EmulationLayerHighDefinitionOverlayCustomPass and EmulationLayerHighDefinitionUnderlayCustomPass are automatically added to the global CustomPassVolume. The GmaeObject which has CustomPassVolume is hidden in hierarchy.