Enable and control foveated rendering
Enable foveated rendering in your XR project settings, then set the foveated rendering level and mode at runtime with a script.
Read time 4 minutesLast updated 18 days ago
To enable foveated rendering in your project, enable it in your project's XR provider plug-in settings, then set the foveated rendering level at runtime with a script.
Note
Enabling the project setting on its own has no effect, and Unity ignores the runtime value if you don't enable the project setting.
On devices that track the user's eyes, you can also allow gaze-based foveated rendering at runtime. You can read the current device's capabilities to find out what it supports.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure that your project, XR provider plug-in, and target device meet the conditions in Foveated rendering support reference.
Enable foveated rendering in project settings
An option to enable foveated rendering appears in the settings section for each plug-in that supports it. Refer to the documentation of the XR provider plug-in for information about the available settings.
To enable foveated rendering for a Unity project:
- Go to Edit > .Project Settings
?
- Select the XR Plug-in Management section.
- Enable foveated rendering in the settings section for your XR provider plug-in.
After you enable the setting, set the foveated rendering level at runtime, as described in Set the foveated rendering level.
Note
XR platforms can provide different levels of control for foveated rendering. For example, when you use Metal rendering on visionOS, fixed foveated rendering is always at full strength when you enable it. On Meta Quest devices, the value selects one of several discrete foveation levels rather than a continuous strength.
Set the foveated rendering level
The property of takes a value between zero and one. A value of zero disables foveated rendering, so it doesn't affect rendering.
foveatedRenderingLevelXRDisplaySubsystemNote
If your XR provider plug-in supports dynamic foveation and you enable it, the device treats this value as a maximum rather than a constant level. Refer to Foveated rendering support reference for the conditions dynamic foveation requires, and to Foveated rendering in OpenXR for instructions about how to enable it.
To set the foveated rendering level:
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Get thefrom the
XRDisplaySubsystem.SubsystemManager -
Wait three frames, because thecan take up to three frames to fully initialize before you access its properties and methods.
XRDisplaySubsystem -
Assign a value between zero and one to theproperty:
foveatedRenderingLevelpublic void SetFoveatedRenderingLevel(XRDisplaySubsystem xrDisplaySubsystem, float strength){ xrDisplaySubsystem.foveatedRenderingLevel = strength;}
After you set a level greater than zero, the device renders the periphery of the display for each eye at a lower resolution, up to the level you set. If rendering doesn't change, check that you enabled foveated rendering in your provider plug-in settings, because Unity otherwise ignores the runtime value.
Check what the current device supports
To find out what the current device supports, read the property of :
foveatedRenderingCapsSystemInfousing UnityEngine.Rendering;FoveatedRenderingCaps caps = SystemInfo.foveatedRenderingCaps;
For the values this property reports and what each one means, refer to Foveated rendering support reference.
Allow gaze-based foveated rendering
On devices that support eye-tracked, or gaze-based, foveated rendering, the property of allows the feature. You can set this property on devices that support it even if you choose fixed foveated rendering at runtime.
foveatedRenderingFlagsXRDisplaySubsystemSome devices require the user's permission before you can access eye-tracking data.
To allow gaze-based foveated rendering:
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Request any permission the platform requires to access eye-tracking data.
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Set theproperty on the active subsystem:
foveatedRenderingFlags// xrDisplaySubsystem is the active XRDisplaySubsystem instancexrDisplaySubsystem.foveatedRenderingFlags = XRDisplaySubsystem.FoveatedRenderingFlags.GazeAllowed;
The following example enables foveated rendering at 50% strength and sets the rendering flags to allow gaze-based foveation. The example uses a coroutine to wait three frames, to make sure the subsystem is ready. It also shows how to request eye-tracking permission for the Android-based Meta Quest Pro device. Other XR devices and platforms use different permission strings, APIs, or other mechanisms for requesting permissions.
using UnityEngine;using UnityEngine.Android;using UnityEngine.XR;using System.Collections.Generic;using System.Collections;public class FoveationStarter : MonoBehaviour{ [Range(0,1)] public float foveationStrength = 0.5f; public bool AllowGaze = false; List<XRDisplaySubsystem> xrDisplays = new List<XRDisplaySubsystem>(); void Start() { StartCoroutine(WaitForXRDisplay()); if (AllowGaze) { // Request eye tracking permission for Quest devices Permission.RequestUserPermission("com.oculus.permission.EYE_TRACKING"); } } IEnumerator WaitForXRDisplay() { yield return new WaitUntil(() => Time.frameCount >= 3); SubsystemManager.GetSubsystems(xrDisplays); if (xrDisplays.Count == 1) { xrDisplays[0].foveatedRenderingLevel = foveationStrength; if(AllowGaze){ xrDisplays[0].foveatedRenderingFlags = XRDisplaySubsystem.FoveatedRenderingFlags.GazeAllowed; } Debug.Log($"Foveated rendering set to {xrDisplays[0].foveatedRenderingLevel}."); } else { Debug.LogWarning($"Couldn't find an XRDisplaySubsystem for foveated rendering."); } }}
After you set the flag, the highest-resolution area of the screen follows the user's gaze on devices that support eye tracking. Devices that don't support eye tracking, and devices on which the user denies permission, continue to use fixed foveated rendering.