Edit: a previous version of this article claimed that some post processing fx are only available in URP. Unity's built in render pipeline does allow access to a full library of post-processing options, but I'm just not familiar with it
Hi folks. Some of you may notice that footage for the Decal King Trailer has some pretty good looking graphics and post processing fx such as bloom, film grain, etc. For this I had Decal King set up with the URP render pipeline when I was recording footage for promotional materials. Luckily, one of the key advantages of using Decal King is that it works by creating a separate mesh for your decals. This allows you to cast decals no matter what render pipeline you are using. I thought it would be cool if I put out a tutorial regarding how to set-up URP so that you could bring your projects to the next level. Fortunately converting a project to URP is extremely easy. I expect the process should not take much longer than 5-minutes. If you would rather watch a video version of this, I will leave it at the bottom of the page.
1. Install the Universal RP Package in the package manager
Make sure that the version of Unity you are working in is 2019. 2018 and lower is incompatible with URP as far as I know, although other render pipelines, such as HDRP are available for those. However, if you have the choice between URP and HDRP, I think URP is just easier to work with in general. In addition converting a project from the Unity Built-In Render Pipeline to URP goes a lot more smoothly than converting to HDRP in my experience.
To install the Universal RP just go to window>package manager. Then find Universal RP in the list of packages and his "Install."
It might take a few minutes to finish installing.
2. Create URP Render Pipeline Assets
Now that the package is installed, you should be able to right click>create>rendering>Universal Render Pipeline>Pipeline Asset, then hit "Enter."
These two assets should appear in your folder.
3. Set up URP in your project settings
Go to Edit>Project Settings. In the Project Settings window select the "Graphics" menu. Then under "Scriptable Render Pipeline Settings" assign the "UniversalRenderPipelineAsset," which you just created.
4. Update Your Project Materials
If you are working on a brand new project, you may not have this issue. However, if you already started you're project in Unity's Built-In Render Pipeline or another setup, you'll see that everything in your scene has become this terrible pink color.
What have you done Calvin!? Was this all an elaborate ruse to turn my project into some kind of pink hellscape!?
No, don't worry. It's really easy to update your materials to URP.
Go to Edit>Render Pipeline>Universal Render Pipeline>Upgrade Project Materials to Universal RP Materials
Once you hit that button and give Unity permission to go forward all of your materials should automatically be converted into URP compatible materials. This seems to upgrade Unity Standard Materials very well 99% of the time. However, if you notice that some were not converted properly, you may need to set up your materials manually.
To do this go into your material settings and select a shader from the "Universal Render Pipeline" menu. I find that "Standard Lit" works pretty well for realistic material set up. Then you just have to assign your textures as you normally would.
Side Note: Enabling URP allows you to utilize Unity's Shader Graph Editor, which is extremely powerful. You will see more of what that can do in our next project!
5. Set Up Post Processing
URP allows you to easily incorporate a lot of nice post-processing fx into your game. To set it up create an empty in your scene and call it something like "Post Processing"
Then in the inspector go to "add component" then add a "volume" component.
In the volume component press "add override" This should take you to a list of post processing fx that URP allows you to take advantage of. I encourage you to experiment with as many as you'd like.
Just make sure that you have the fx features enabled. They are all turned off by default. I usually hit the "All" setting for all my fx and then take away features I don't need.
You may notice that some of your FX, like "Bloom" don't seem to do anything to your scene. That's because you need to enable HDR settings in your render pipeline.
Do do this, click on your render asset, and check the HDR setting.
This should allow your fx to show up in the scene view. However, you may notice that they are not visible in the game view. To enable post processing in our game view, we need to go to our camera settings and make sure that "Post Processing" is checked. In addition, make sure that in the output menu HDR and MSAA are set to "Use Pipeline Settings."
Now you should be all set to work with URP. This is just a basic set-up, but you can probably already tell there is a huge improvement in quality compared to the Unity's built-in pipeline.
Thanks for reading our tutorial. If you are interested in Decal King, please check it out on the Unity Asset store. Your purchase supports what we do here at Fun Freighter Games.