Journal 27 — Update Game to AAA Status with Unity Post Processing

In this example, we will look at a few of the post processing effects in action. As I am learning, there are many resources to check out, and you can experiment with several settings to change the look of your game. The first effect we can experiment with is Bloom, which makes bright areas in your game glow more.

Unity Post-process Volume add Bloom

Unity Bloom Intensity

Unity Game scene, Bloom intensity turned up and down

The next effect we will try is color grading, which changes the tone, brightness, and contrast of your game environment.

Unity Post-process Volume effects, add Color Grading

Once Color Grading is active, there is one update needed to the Project Settings, as noted by the exclamation point. The Color Space in Project Settings need to be switched to Linear for HDR mode.

Unity Color Grading effect

The Project Settings can be accessed through the File Menu Build Settings or the Edit drop down menu.

Unity File drop down, go to Build Settings

Under the Player tab in Project settings, change the Color Space from Gamma to Linear.

Unity Build settings, go to Player settings and change Color Space

Unity Project settings, change Color Space to Linear

Back in the Color Grading effect, we can update the Tonemapping to Neutral or ACES, and we can also experiment with the White Balance, which affects the overall tint and temperature of the environment.

Unity Color Grading, change Tonemapping mode

Unity Color Grading, change White Balance

After experimenting with several of the effects, here is an example of the before and after.

Unity Playmode, seeing post-processing effects applied

Thank you for your time!