# 2. URP Effect Catalog Part of [[Post-Processing]]. Previous: [[1. URP Volumes and Profiles]]. Next: [[3. Worked Example - Grade Damage and a Cave]]. > [!note] Verification status > The URP / HDRP / PPv2 availability table is from the Unity 6000.5 "Post-processing effect availability reference," fetched 2026-11-10. Use that page as the canonical list. **Property-level inspector labels are not all verified.** Effects that are not in the URP column of that table are treated as unavailable in URP. ## 2.1 What is a volume override, and what is not **Volume Overrides** in URP (officially listed as available in the URP integrated solution): | Override | What it is for | Use lightly? | |---|---|---| | **Bloom** | Glow around bright pixels. Looks different across pipelines; read the URP Bloom page before you copy HDRP settings. | The first effect students overuse. A little goes far. | | **Tonemapping** | Remaps HDR values into display range (Neutral, ACES, and whatever modes your URP lists). | Usually **on** for a real grade. | | **Color Adjustments** | Exposure-like post offset, contrast, color filter, hue, saturation. | Your everyday grade. | | **White Balance** | Temperature / tint around preserved whites. | Location mood (warm interiors, cold moonlight). | | **Color Curves** | Hue/sat/luma curves. | Fine grade; easy to break skin tones. | | **Channel Mixer** | Remix RGB channels. | Stylized looks, not a first-day control. | | **Lift, Gamma, Gain** | Three-way color grade. | Same; film-style tools. | | **Shadows Midtones Highlights** | Tint those regions separately. | URP and HDRP have this; PPv2 did not, per the table. | | **Split Toning** | Map two tones onto the image. | Stylized. Not in PPv2. | | **Vignette** | Darken the edges. | Attention and "hurt" feedback, in moderation. | | **Film Grain** | Overlay grain. | Nice at 1080p; noisy on a Quest overlay. | | **Chromatic Aberration** | Split colors at contrast edges. | Hit feedback; sickening if left on. | | **Lens Distortion** | Simulate lens shape. | Special moments, not a base look. | | **Depth of Field** | Blur out-of-focus regions. | Cinematics; expensive and often wrong in gameplay / VR. | | **Motion Blur** | Blur in the direction of camera motion. | Cinematics; usually off in gameplay, **off in VR**. | | **Panini Projection** | Correct wide-FOV edge distortion. | Special cameras; URP and HDRP have it, PPv2 does not. | **Not available as a URP volume override** (official table): - **Auto Exposure** — HDRP only (Exposure override, Automatic mode). URP has no equivalent volume; you expose with Color Adjustments / the camera and lighting ([[Lighting and Baking]]). - **Fog** as this kind of full-screen volume — HDRP has a Fog volume override. URP fog is configured elsewhere (typically lighting / URP fog settings, not this table's "Fog" row). - **Screen Space Reflection** — HDRP (and PPv2), not URP. **Ambient Occlusion:** URP can do SSAO, but in practice it is usually a **Renderer Feature** on the URP renderer, plus *baked* AO in lightmaps ([[Lighting and Baking]]). HDRP offers SSAO or ray-traced AO as volume options, plus per-material AO. Do not look for a PPv2-style AO component on the camera. **Anti-aliasing:** not a Volume Override in URP. The official table places **FXAA and SMAA on the Camera**, and **MSAA in Quality Settings**. TAA, when your URP offers it, is also a camera / pipeline setting, not a volume. HDRP's AA lives under Frame Settings / the HDRP asset. If your **Add Override** list contains something not in this table (lens flares, and so on), it is a real override in *your* URP version — read *its* manual page before you teach it, and measure it (part 6). ## 2.2 A starting grade For a class project on a desktop or a TV: 1. Tonemapping **Neutral** (or ACES if you know why you want the contrast) 2. Color Adjustments: small contrast, almost no saturation swing 3. Bloom at a low intensity, with a threshold that only catches emissive / specular peaks 4. Optional faint vignette Leave DoF, motion blur, lens distortion and heavy grain off until a shot *needs* them. ## Official docs - Effect availability: https://docs.unity.com/en-us/engine/6000.5/manual/post-processing-and-full-screen-effects/effect-availability-reference - Feature comparison: https://docs.unity.com/en-us/engine/6000.5/manual/render-pipelines/choose-a-render-pipeline/feature-comparison