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Unity Engine

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Enable Rendering Layers for Lights in URP

Enable and use Rendering Layers for Lights, change the name of Rendering Layers, and use Custom Shadow Layers to improve shadows.

Read time 3 minutes

Last updated 17 days ago

To enable Rendering Layers for Lights in your project:

In the URP asset, in the Lighting section, open the More (⋮) menu and select Advanced Properties.
In the URP asset, in the Lighting section, select Use Rendering Layers.

How to edit Rendering Layer names

To edit the names of Rendering Layers:

Go to
Project Settings
?
> Tags and Layers.
Edit the Rendering Layer names in the Rendering Layers section.

How to use Rendering Layers with Lights

This section describes how to configure the following application example:

The scene contains two Point Lights (marked
```
A
```
and
```
B
```
in the illustration) and two Sphere GameObjects (
```
C
```
and
```
D
```
in the illustration).
Light
```
A
```
affects Sphere
```
D
```
, but not Sphere
```
C
```
. Light
```
B
```
affects Sphere
```
C
```
, but not Sphere
```
D
```
.

The following illustration shows the example:

Light A affects Sphere D, but not Sphere C. Light B affects Sphere C, but not Sphere D.

Light
A
affects Sphere
D
, but not Sphere
C
. Light
B
affects Sphere
C
, but not Sphere
D
.

To implement the example:

Enable Rendering Layers in your project.
Create two Point Lights (call them
```
A
```
, and
```
B
```
) and two Spheres (call them
```
C
```
, and
```
D
```
). Position the objects so that both Spheres are within the emission range of Lights.
Go to Project Settings > Tags and Layers. Rename Rendering Layer 1 to
```
Red
```
, and Layer 2 to
```
Green
```
.
Select Light
```
A
```
, change its color to green. Select Light
```
B
```
, change its color to red. With this setup, both Lights affect both Spheres.
Both Lights affect both Spheres.
Make the following settings on Lights and Spheres:
Light
```
A
```
: in the property Light > Rendering > Rendering Layers, clear all options, and select
```
Green
```
.
Light
```
B
```
: in the property Light > Rendering > Rendering Layers, clear all options, and select
```
Red
```
.
Sphere
```
C
```
: in the property Mesh Renderer > Additional Settings > Rendering Layer Mask, select all options, clear
```
Green
```
.
Sphere
```
D
```
: in the property Mesh Renderer > Additional Settings > Rendering Layer Mask, select all options, clear
```
Red
```
.
Now Point Light
```
A
```
affects Sphere
```
D
```
, but not Sphere
```
C
```
. Point Light
```
B
```
affects Sphere
```
C
```
, but not Sphere
```
D
```
.
Point Light A affects Sphere D, but not Sphere C. Point Light B affects Sphere C, but not Sphere D.

How to use Custom Shadow Layers

In the illustration above, Light

does not affect Sphere

, and the Sphere does not cast shadow from Light

.

The Custom Shadow Layers property lets you configure the scene so that Sphere

casts the shadow from Light

.

Select Light
```
A
```
.
In Light > Shadows, select the Custom Shadow Layers property. Unity shows the Layer property.
In the Layer property, select the Rendering Layer that Sphere C belongs to.

Now Light

does not affect Sphere

, but Sphere

casts shadow from Light

.

The following illustrations show the scene with the Custom Shadow Layers property off and on.

Custom Shadow Layers property off

Custom Shadow Layers property on

Additional resources

```
RenderingLayerMask
```
API