Can Unity output to HDR monitor

Unity Engine
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1

Can URP actually output an HDR signal to a supporting monitor?

I don’t mean HDR values with tone mapping applied to map the values to an SDR signal, but actual HDR values displayed on the monitor.

Currently it is clamping the values and I can visually see they are dimmer when compared to an HDR image on the same screen.

If it is possible, is it also possible to render HDR on a supporting iphone?

Thanks

2

This available only with HDRP in 2022.1
https://portal.productboard.com/8ufdwj59ehtmsvxenjumxo82/c/238-high-dynamic-range-display-output?utm_medium=social&utm_source=portal_share

3

It’s a planned feature in URP roadmap.
https://portal.productboard.com/unity/1-unity-platform-rendering-visual-effects/c/220-high-dynamic-range-display-output?utm_medium=social&utm_source=portal_share

I think it should be available in Unity 2023. (URP 15/16)

4

Unity can output to HDR monitor with built-in renderer or with recent HDRP version. Worth noting that HDR output only works with DX12 in the editor but DX11 does work in actual build. Bug report here Unity Issue Tracker - The Editor doesn't support HDR when DirectX 11 is enabled

As for URP’s HDR output support, I wouldn’t get hopes up since we haven’t seen any staff member mentioning it’s coming nor have there been anything for it on the github (altho granted Unity’s work is now more hidden there since they don’t mirror the WIP branches anymore).

1 Like
5

Really? I didn’t find any way to do that, if that’s true I’m fine going with built-in renderer!

6

This API is in Unity 2020+:
https://docs.unity3d.com/2020.1/Documentation/ScriptReference/HDROutputSettings.html

I don’t have own experience working with this on built-in renderer beyond testing the HDR display detection through that API. For HDR output I’ve only tried HDRP so can’t tell how well this works for built-in.

7

Work on HDR output in URP has started. The aim is to have it in 2023.1 and we are considering to backport it to 2022.2 (no guarantees yet).

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8

I don’t mean HDR values that have been tone-mapped to an SDR signal, but rather the real HDR values that are visible on the monitor.

Since it is clamping the values right now, I can see that they are darker than an HDR image displayed on the same screen.

Is it possible, if it is, to render HDR on an iPhone that supports it?

Thanks

9

Is HDR Output removed from Built-In Pipeline?
Docs for 2020.3 state that Built-In Pipeline can output to HDR. (Feature comparison table | Universal RP | 10.9.0)
Docs for 2021.3 state that it cannot (Unity - Manual: # Render pipeline feature comparison)

Why did Unity make such compatibility breaking decision?