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Change how lights fade using light falloff in URP

Create a unique visual style in your scene by changing the light falloff function for real-time and baked lighting.
Read time 3 minutesLast updated a month ago
To create a unique visual style in your scene, you can change the light falloff function in URP for real-time and baked lighting.
This example replaces the default URP light falloff function with a quadratic falloff function, which has a different visual style. You can modify the functions mentioned on this page to achieve other visual styles. The quadratic light falloff function has a similar behavior to the falloff function in the Built-In Render Pipeline.

Prepare URP source code for modification

This customization requires modifying URP source code. For instructions, refer to Modify URP source code.

Change light falloff for real-time lights

To modify the light falloff behavior for real-time lights:
  1. Open the following HLSL file:
    Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal/ShaderLibrary/RealtimeLights.hlsl
  2. Modify the 
    DistanceAttenuation
    method. Use the following code:
    // The quadratic falloff function provides a visual style// similar to the Built-In Render Pipeline light falloff.float DistanceAttenuation(float distanceSqr, float2 distanceAndSpotAttenuation){    // Calculate the linear distance from the squared distance value.    float distance = sqrt(distanceSqr);    // Calculate the range of the light by taking the inverse square root of the attenuation parameter.    float range = rsqrt(distanceAndSpotAttenuation.x);    // Normalize the distance to a value between 0 and 1 (1 at the source, 0 at the max range).    float distance01 = saturate(1.0f - (distance / range));    // Apply quadratic falloff.    float lightAtten = pow(distance01, 2.0f);    // Smooth the falloff across the entire range for a more gradual and natural fade.    float smoothFactor = smoothstep(0.0f, 1.0f, distance01);    lightAtten *= smoothFactor;        return lightAtten;}
  3. Modify the 
    AngleAttenuation
    method. Use the following code:
    float AngleAttenuation(float3 spotDirection, float3 lightDirection, float2 spotAttenuation){    // Compute the cosine of the angle between spotlight and surface.    float SdotL = dot(spotDirection, lightDirection);     // Linearly interpolate attenuation between the inner and the outer cone.    float atten = saturate(SdotL * spotAttenuation.x + spotAttenuation.y);    // Apply cubic smoothing for a gradual edge falloff.    atten = atten * atten * (3.0f - 2.0f * atten);    return atten;}
The following illustration compares the default URP light falloff, the custom light falloff function in this example, and the light falloff in the Built-In Render Pipeline.

A: URP default falloff. B: Built-In Render Pipeline quadratic falloff. C: URP quadratic falloff (this example)

Change light falloff for baked lights

To ensure that the look of the baked lighting in your project matches the look of real-time lighting, change the light falloff of the baked lights.
  1. Open the following file:
    Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal/Runtime/UniversalRenderPipelineCore.cs
  2. Change the 
    lightData.falloff
    value to FalloffType.Legacy:
    lightData.falloff = FalloffType.Legacy;
The value FalloffType.Legacy uses quadratic attenuation, which matches the real-time falloff in this example. You can use other values to match the real-time lighting in your project.
For more information on changing the light falloff function in baked lighting, refer to Change the fade distance of lights with fall-off

Additional resources