Legacy prebuilt shaders
Resources for the over 80 legacy shaders that are included in Unity for backwards compatibility, but aren't recommended for new projects.
Read time 1 minuteLast updated 23 days ago
Prior to the introduction of the Physically Based Standard Shader, Unity was supplied with more than eighty built-in shaders which each served different purposes. These shaders are still included and available for use in Unity for backwards compatibility but we recommend you use the Standard Shader wherever possible for new projects.
This section begins by explaining how to use the legacy built-in shaders to maximum effect. The remainder of the section details all the available shaders, grouped into related "families".
Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Usage and Performance of Built-in Shaders | Learn how Materials, rendering paths, and vertex- versus pixel-lit models affect legacy shader performance. |
| Normal Shader Family reference | Reference for legacy opaque Normal-family shaders. |
| Transparent Shader Family | Reference for legacy shaders that blend full or partial transparency from the base texture alpha. |
| Transparent Cutout Shader Family | Reference for legacy cutout shaders with hard opaque and transparent regions. |
| Self-Illuminated Shader Family | Reference for legacy shaders that self-illuminate from texture without requiring scene lights. |
| Reflective Shader Family | Reference for legacy shaders that reflect an assigned cubemap with per-texel reflectivity. |