Rendering

The Rendering section provides various low-level options for controlling how the shader is rendered. This plays an important part in how the Graphics Driver will interpret the shader at runtime.

info

Many of the settings in this section are automatically-configured depending on which Rendering Preset you select.

Cull

• Type: Dropdown, Options: Back/Front/Off
  • Default: Back

Sets what faces should be culled. By default, back faces are culled, in order to improve performance. This can be set to Off in order to render both front and back faces. Front is useful for special effects.

tip

This option is usually the only one in this section that should be adjusted by most users.

ZTest

• Type: Dropdown, Options: Disabled/Never/Less/Equal/LessEqual/Greater/NotEqual/GreaterEqual/Always

Sets how the shader should test the depth buffer. By default, the depth buffer is tested, and if the depth value is not less than or equal to the current value, the pixel is discarded.

Learn more at Unity's documentation.

ZWrite

• Type: Dropdown, Options: Off/On

Determines whether the shader should write to the depth buffer. For Opaque presets, this is usually On, but for Transparent presets, this is usually Off.

Learn more at Unity's documentation.

Color Mask

• Type: Dropdown

Color Mask determines which color channels should be rendered. By default, this is set to RGBA, which means that all colors are rendered. All permutations of color channels are available.

Learn more at Unity's documentation.

Offset Factor

• Type: Float

Offset factor moves where a polygon is rendered in screenspace. This doesn't change the visual appearance of the polygon, but can be used to specially modify the depth value of the polygon.

Learn more at Unity's documentation.

Offset Units

• Type: Float

A fixed value to move the polygon away from or toward the camera, while keeping it visually the same size.

Learn more at Unity's documentation.

Reduce Clip Distance

• Type: Checkbox

Creates a smaller clip distance for the material. This can be used to make geometry not disappear when very close to the camera.

Z Clip

• Type: Checkbox
  • Default: true

Enables or Disables the GPU's Depth Clip Mode, which determines how the GPU handles fragments of the Shader that are outside of the Near and Far Planes.

Learn more at Unity's documentation.

Ignore Fog

• Type: Checkbox

If checked, this material will not be affected by fog, if present in the scene.

Learn more at Unity's documentation.

Enable GPU Instancing

• Type: Checkbox

Enables or disables GPU instancing for this material. GPU instancing allows for rendering multiple copies of the same mesh with the same material, given some specific conditions are met. This can be used to create more efficient rendering of objects with multiple copies.

Learn more at Unity's documentation.

Early Z

• Type: Checkbox

Enables Early Z mode on the Material. This makes the Mesh first only render to Depth, culling anything behind the main Front Face.

This option is commonly used to solve Stacking Transparency problems.

VRC Fallback

• Type: Dropdown, Options: None/Hidden/Standard/Toon/Unlit/VertexLit/Particle/Sprite/Matcap/MobileToon

Defines what Fallback Shader to use if shaders are hidden on the Avatar. Fallback Shaders are seen when a Remote User is blocking your shaders via their own Safety Settings.

This option includes a large variety of shaders, with some of the more useful options being:

• Hidden: Material disappears if shaders are hidden (useful for things that are hidden by the shader, or to avoid opaque glasses lens).
• Standard/Opaque: Opaque Standard shader material.
• Standard/Cutout: Cutout Standard shader material, drawing from base texture alpha.
• Toon/Opaque: Opaque Toon-lit (flat lit) shader material.
• Toon/Cutout: Cutout Toon-lit (flat lit) shader material, drawing from base texture alpha.

For more information on VRC Fallback Shaders, including what specific properties will be copied to the fallback shader, read the VRC Creators Documentation for the Shader Fallback System.

Test Fallback Shaders in-game

You can test how the Fallback Shader setting behaves in-game by toggling a setting in the Action Menu!

To do this, open the Action Menu, go to Tools -> Avatar and toggle the Fallback Shaders to preview. Make sure to turn this off when you're done!