Version: 2021.1
2D or 3D projects
Learning the interface

Project Templates

Project Templates provide preselected settings based on common best practices for different types of Projects. These settings are optimized for 2D and 3D Projects across the full range of platforms that Unity supports.

Templates speed up the process of preparing the initial Project, a target game-type or level of visual fidelity. Using Templates introduces you to settings that you might not have discovered, and to features such as Scriptable Render Pipelines, Shader Graph, and Post Processing.

When you create a Project, you select a Template with which to initialize your Project.

Project Templates drop-down selection
Project Templates drop-down selection

Template types

Unity provides the following templates, which you can use to initialize your Project.

2D

Configures Project settings for 2D apps, including Texture (Image) Import, Sprite Packer, Scene View, Lighting, and Orthographic Camera.

3D

Configures Project settings for 3D apps that use Unity’s built-in rendering pipeline.

3D With Extras

Configures Project settings for 3D apps that use Unity’s built-in renderer and post-processing features. This Project type includes the new post-processing stack, several Presets to jump-start development, and example content.

For more information on post-processing, see documentation on post-processing in the post-processing GitHub repository.

High Definition RP (Preview)

Configures Project settings for Projects that use high-end platforms that support Shader Model 5.0 (DX11 and above). This template is built using the Scriptable Render Pipeline (SRP), a modern rendering pipeline that includes advanced material types and a configurable hybrid tile/cluster deferred/forward lighting architecture. This Template also includes the new post-processing stack, several Presets to jump start development, and example content.

This Template adds the following features to your Project:

  • SRP - For more information, see documentation on the Scriptable Render Pipeline in the SRP GitHub repository.
  • Post-Processing stack - The post-processing Stack enables artists and designers to apply full -screen filters to scenes using an artist-friendly interface. For more information, see documentation on post-processing in the post-processing GitHub repository.

Note: The High Definition RP is currently in development, so consider it incomplete and subject to change (API, UX, scope). As such, it is not covered by regular Unity support. Unity is seeking feedback on the feature. To ask questions about the feature, visit the Unity preview forum.

Universal Render Pipeline

The Universal Render Pipeline Template configures Project settings for Projects where performance, wide platform support, and ease of customizing graphics are the primary considerations.

This Template uses the following Unity features:

  • Universal Render Pipeline (URP): a prebuilt Scriptable Render Pipeline that is quick and easy to customize, and lets you create optimized graphics across a wide range of platforms. URP also includes an optimized 2D renderer complete with 2D lights and pixel perfect rendering, and an integrated post-processing solution. For more information on URP, see the URP documentation.
  • Shader Graph: a tool that allows you to create shaders using a visual node editor instead of writing code. For more information on Shader Graph, see the Shader Graph documentation.

The template contains the following:

  • A sample Scene that contains examples of how to configure lighting settings, Materials, Shaders, and post-processing effects in URP
  • Several preconfigured Universal Render Pipline Assets that let you quickly swap between graphics quality levels
  • Presets that have been optimized for use with URP

  • Updated list of Templates for Unity 2019.3 NewIn20193

  • Added Project Templates in 2018.1 NewIn20181

  • New Project Templates added in 2018.2 NewIn20182

2D or 3D projects
Learning the interface