koobas.hobune.stream
Low Poly Alpha Cutout vs Full Models Performance
Hi, Quick question for those familiar with shaders and performance cost. What would be better for performance for small scatter objects like leaves & sticks?
1- Low poly(2-8 tris) planes using alpha cutout shaders
2- Still low poly but higher(24-36 tris) full models using a standard lit non-alpha shader
Mentioned above but would be for lots of scatter pieces/piles through the scene covering most of the grounds.
Thanks for any assistance!
Take a look at GPU instancing: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/GPUInstancing.html
In general a cutout shader will be more expensive than a fully opaque one, however microtriangles (triangles that are smaller than a fragment-group) can be disastrous for performance and should be avoided as much as possible (I've linked to a video with a more thorough explanation below).
At the end of the day, it really depends on your scene and target platform - so don't be afraid to try both, profile and see which is better for your scenario.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUKknnQTOdA
Thank you for the detailed response! That makes sense. I will do some testing and see how it compares but think the alpha cutout will be a better option for most of the scattering.
Focus is on current & next gen desktop & console hardware so micro triangles will not be as pro$$anonymous$$ent an issue but still want to make things as performant as possible.
