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Stencil

The stencil section gives access to the stencil buffer, and its associated capabilities. The stencil buffer can be used to create effects where one shader can only draw where another has rendered, or cannot render where another has already rendered.

To learn more about stencils, visit the Unity documentation.

Stencil Reference Value​

  • Type: Integer, Range: 0 - 255, Default: 0

What reference value to use for the stencil test. This is the value that the stencil buffer is compared to or written from.

Stencil ReadMask Value​

  • Type: Integer, Range: 0 - 255, Default: 255

Value used to mask what bits of the stencil buffer are read from. This is best thought of as a binary number, which is bitwise ANDed with the stencil buffer value to determine if the read tests true.

Stencil WriteMask Value​

  • Type: Integer, Range: 0 - 255, Default: 255

Value used to mask what bits of the stencil buffer are read from. This is best thought of as a binary number, which is bitwise ANDed with the stencil buffer value to determine if the write tests true.

For a reference on stencil read/write masks, this thread provides some useful information.

Stencil Pass/Fail/Zfail Op​

  • Type: Dropdown, Options: Keep/Zero/Replace/Increment/Decrement/Invert/IncrementWrap/DecrementWrap

Which write operation to apply to the stencil buffer based on each test. Different operations can be used to create different effects based on if the stencil test passes, fails, or passes the stencil test but fails the depth test.

Stencil Compare Function​

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

What comparison function to use for the stencil test. This is the function that is used to compare the reference value and the value in the stencil buffer. This can be used to create effects where the stencil buffer is used to determine if a pixel should be drawn or not.

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