Galaxy Shooter 2D — PostProcessing

Using PostProcessing to improve the visual fidelity of the game!

PostProcessing is a great tool to enhance your game’s visuals, offering collections of filters and image effects for you to explore, and it is widely used in the videogame industry (both indie and AAA studios). As the name suggests, it applies those filters and effects once a frame has been rendered.

I’ve decided to use PostProcessing in my project, and give it some effects such as Bloom and a bit of Lens Distortion. Today, I will show how I added PostProcessing.

Okay, how can I get PostProcessing?

You can get PostProcessing from the Package Manager tab: Window > Package Manager . Search for the Post Processing package, and click on install.

Curiously, Post Processing used to be an asset in the Unity’s asset store. They moved it into a package, separating Unity’s assets from other user’s assets.

How to get PostProcessing working

• Create a new Layer called PostProcessing.

• Add the Post-Process Layer component to your Main Camera. Assign the layer PostProcessing.

• Create an empty GameObject, and add the Post-Process Volume component. Set the layer to PostProcessing (so the camera knows that it’s a PostProcess volume) and set the volume to global (to instantly apply the PostProcess).

• Create a new PostProcess Profile asset and assign it to the Volume. After this step, you can start adding your own effects and see the changes in real time! (If you want to disable PostProcess effects, you can always disable the Volume GameObject).

Adding Effects

By selecting the newly created Profile, I can start adding the effects I want. Remember to carefully select your settings, as an exagerated amount of unnecessary effects can affect the performace of your game. In my case, I’ve decided to use these efects.

With a little tweaking, I can make the game look better with minimal effort. It’s great and allows every single Unity dev to improve the visuals to their 2D and 3D games!