My journey becoming a Unity game developer: Bring your game to AAA status through Post Processing!
Objective: Using different effects provided by Unity’s Post-Processing, we will give this game a final retro look that can be used for production.
Unity provides a number of post-processing effects that can greatly improve the appearance of your game or application. You can use these effects to simulate a physical camera, film properties, or create unique stylish visuals.
The Built-in Render Pipeline does not include a post-processing solution by default. To use post-processing effects with the Built-in Render Pipeline, you need to download the Post-Processing Version 2 package from the Package Manager. URP includes its own post-processing solution which Unity installs when you create a Project using a URP Template, and includes more effects than the Built-in Render Pipeline. HDRP also includes its own post-processing solution which Unity installs when you create a Project using a HDRP Template, and offers more effects than URP.
The following effects and definitions are provided by Unity.
https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/PostProcessingOverview.html
The Bloom effect makes bright areas in your image glow. Bloom works differently in each package, and requires different settings.
The Color Grading effect lets you change the overall tone, brightness, and contrast of the final rendered image. The Lift, Gamma, Gain effect allows you to perform three-way color grading.
The Auto Exposure effect dynamically adjusts the exposure of an image to match its mid-tone. Not available in URP.
The Chromatic Aberration effect disperses colors along the boundaries between dark and light areas of the image.
The Depth of Field effect blurs the background of your image while the objects in the foreground stay in focus.
The Grain effect overlays film noise onto your image.
The Lens Distortion effect simulates distortion caused by the shape of a real-world camera lens.
The Vignette effect darkens the edges of an image.
This is how the game looks with all of the effects added and adjusted to give an 70’s or 80’s old school appearance to this game.
The Ambient Occlusion effect darkens the areas in your scene that are not exposed to ambient lighting. There was no change in the effects with this game, therefore I bypassed this effect.
The Motion Blur effect blurs the image in the direction of the camera’s movement. Since our camera isn’t moving in our game, there will be no effects displayed.
The Anti-aliasing effect softens the appearance of edges in your scene. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
The Channel mixer lets you adjust the balance of each input color. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
The Panini Projection effect corrects distortion at the edge of an image caused by a wide field of view. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
The Shadows Midtones Highlights effect separately controls the tint and brightness of the shadows, midtones, and highlights in your image. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
The Split Toning effect maps two different tones in your image to two specific colors. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
The Tonemapping effect remaps the values of an image to high dynamic range (HDR) colors. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
The Color Curves effect lets you adjust specific ranges in hue, saturation, or luminosity. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
The Fog effect simulates the look of fog or mist in outdoor environments. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
The Screen Space Reflection effect creates subtle reflections that simulate wet floor surfaces or puddles. Not available in URP Pipeline.
The White Balance effect preserves the white areas in your image and balances other tones around the white areas. Not available in Built-in Render Pipeline.
To see the other post-processing effects used, here are a couple of articles where I used these effects under the URP Pipeline in Unity3D.
