GPU Instancing and Particle Systems

Unity Engine
1

Hi all, apologies if this is the wrong place to post this but I was hoping I could get some clarity on how GPU Instancing works with regards to particle systems.

I’ve read through this page Unity - Manual: GPU instancing but I’m still unclear as to how I can go about utilizing this feature in my own project. My project creates a point cloud of the user’s body using data from an attached motion sensor. The particles are recreated every frame with new coordinates based on the user’s motion. This process is very expensive, so my hope is that I can use the new features to dramatically increase framerate.

Do I need to write a shader which explicitly incorporates the GPU Instancing capability of Unity 2018? Or is this feature something which doesn’t really apply to my needs at all? Any help is appreciated!

2

If you’re rendering mesh particles, then GPU Instancing can help you. It’s built in to the Standard Particles Shader (Particles/Standard Unlit on the menu) which ships with Unity 2018.1.

But if you’re rendering Billboard particles (I.e camera facing) then GPU Instancing isn’t used.

1 Like
3

Oh and the manual page you really want is this: Unity - Manual: Particle System GPU Instancing