Rendering Profiler module reference
Reference for the Rendering Profiler module, which displays rendering statistics and information about what the CPU and GPU do to render the scene.
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The Rendering Profiler displays rendering statistics and information about what the CPU and GPU do to render the Scene. You can use these statistics to measure the resource intensity of different areas of the Scene, which is useful for optimization.
To open the Profiler window, go to Window > Analysis > Profiler.
The chart displays one set of counters at a time. The lower pane displays more rendering statistics, which match the ones shown in the Game view Rendering Statistics window.
The Rendering Profiler module
Chart modes
To select which set of counters the chart displays, use the chart mode dropdown in the module toolbar. The frame range stays the same when you change the mode.
The dropdown contains the following modes:
Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Rendering | Displays the batch, shader pass, triangle, and vertex counts for a frame. The chart displays this mode by default. For more information on Rendering counters, refer to Rendering. |
| GRD Pipeline | Displays the CPU time the GPU Resident Drawer spent in each stage of a frame. For more information on GRD Pipeline counters, refer to GRD Pipeline. Note: This mode displays data only for the frames in which the GPU Resident Drawer ran. |
| GRD Coverage | Displays the number of renderers the GPU Resident Drawer drew, and the number it excluded. For more information on GRD Coverage counters, refer to GRD Coverage. Note: This mode displays data only for the frames in which the GPU Resident Drawer ran. |
| GRD Instances | Displays the number of instances the GPU Resident Drawer processed, and the reason it culled each of them. For more information on GRD Instances counters, refer to GRD Instances. Note: This mode displays data only for the frames in which the GPU Resident Drawer ran. |
| GRD Batches | Displays how efficiently the GPU Resident Drawer batched the renderers it drew. For more information on GRD Batches counters, refer to GRD Batches. Note: This mode displays data only for the frames in which the GPU Resident Drawer ran. |
Each mode displays the counters from one Profiler category. The Rendering counters belong to the Render category, and the GRD counters belong to the GPU Resident Drawer category. Use the category to find a counter in the Profiler Module Editor or to read it with the ProfilerRecorder API.
Rendering
The Rendering mode contains the following counters:
Counter | Description |
|---|---|
| Batches Count | Displays the number of batches Unity processed during a frame. |
| SetPass Calls Count | Displays the number of times Unity switched which shader pass it used to render GameObjects during a frame. A shader might contain several shader passes and each pass renders GameObjects in the scene differently. |
| Triangles Count | Displays the number of triangles Unity processed during a frame. |
| Vertices Count | Displays the number of vertices Unity processed during a frame. |
GRD Pipeline
The GRD Pipeline mode contains the following counters:
Counter | Description |
|---|---|
| Data Collection | Displays the time the GPU Resident Drawer spent collecting renderer data from the scene. |
| Batch Building | Displays the time the GPU Resident Drawer spent building the batches for the frame. |
| CPU to GPU Upload | Displays the time the GPU Resident Drawer spent uploading instance data to the GPU. |
| Culling Schedule | Displays the time the GPU Resident Drawer spent building the culling job graph for each camera. This value doesn't include the time the culling jobs take to run. |
GRD Coverage
The GRD Coverage mode contains the following counters:
Counter | Description |
|---|---|
| GRD Renderers | Displays the number of renderers the GPU Resident Drawer drew during a frame. |
| Excluded Renderers | Displays the number of renderers the GPU Resident Drawer excluded during a frame, which fell back to another rendering path. For more information, refer to GPU Resident Drawer exclusion reasons reference. |
| Non-Rendering Renderers | Displays the number of renderers that have a problem with their assets, such as a missing mesh or an unassigned material. These renderers produce no draw call. |
| Inactive Renderers | Displays the number of renderers whose GameObject or Renderer component is disabled. No rendering path draws these renderers. |
| Coverage % | Displays the number of GRD Renderers as a proportion of GRD Renderers and Excluded Renderers. Note: Unity excludes Non-Rendering Renderers and Inactive Renderers from this calculation, because neither describes a choice between the GPU Resident Drawer and another rendering path. |
GRD Instances
The GRD Instances mode contains the following counters:
Counter | Description |
|---|---|
| Total Instances | Displays the number of instances the GPU Resident Drawer processed during a frame. This is the sum of all the other counters in the GRD Instances mode. Note: The GRD Instances counters include only the instances Unity culls for cameras, not the instances it culls for shadow maps. Unity adds the instances for each camera, so a second camera that renders the same instances doubles the Total Instances value. |
| Visible Instances | Displays the number of instances that remain visible after culling. |
| Disabled Renderer Culled | Displays the number of instances Unity culled because their Renderer component is disabled. |
| Layer Culled | Displays the number of instances Unity culled because the camera's culling mask excludes their layer. |
| Frustum Culled | Displays the number of instances Unity culled because they fall outside the camera frustum. |
| Occlusion Culled | Displays the number of instances Unity culled with occlusion culling. |
| GPU Occlusion Culled | Displays the number of instances Unity culled with GPU occlusion culling. |
| LOD Group Culled | Displays the number of instances Unity culled because their LOD Group selected a different level of detail. |
| Small Mesh Culled | Displays the number of instances Unity culled because they cover too few pixels on screen. |
| Other Culled | Displays the number of instances Unity culled for any other reason. |
GRD Batches
The GRD Batches mode contains the following counters:
Counter | Description |
|---|---|
| Batch Count | Displays the number of batches the GPU Resident Drawer drew during a frame. |
| Unique Materials | Displays the number of distinct materials across the batches the GPU Resident Drawer drew during a frame. |
| Unique Meshes | Displays the number of distinct meshes across the batches the GPU Resident Drawer drew during a frame. |
| Single-Instance Batches | Displays the number of batches the GPU Resident Drawer drew during a frame that contain a single instance, which instancing doesn't improve. |
Module details pane
When you click on the Rendering Profiler module, the details pane in the lower half of the window displays detailed rendering statistics. These statistics are similar to the statistics shown in the Rendering Statistics window.
In the top left of the details pane, select Open Frame Debugger to open the Frame Debugger, which gives you information on individual draw calls that rendered the frame.
You can access all these statistics through the ProfilerRecorder API and in the Profiler Module Editor so you can add them to a custom Profiler module. To find the name of each counter, refer to Rendering counters.
The details pane displays the following statistics.
Frame statistics
The top row of the details pane contains the following statistics:
Statistic | Description | Accessible in Release Players |
|---|---|---|
| SetPass calls | Displays the number of times Unity switched which shader pass it used to render GameObjects during a frame. A shader might contain several shader passes and each pass renders GameObjects in the scene differently. | Yes |
| Draw calls | Displays the total number of draw calls Unity issued during a frame. Unity issues draw calls when it renders GameObjects to the screen. | Yes |
| Triangles | Displays the number of triangles Unity processed during a frame. | Yes |
| Vertices | Displays the number of vertices Unity processed during a frame. | Yes |
Batching statistics
The details pane displays the following batching statistics:
Statistic | Description | Accessible in Release Players |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic Batching | Displays the number of draw calls Unity combined with dynamic batching, and the number of batches. | No |
| Static Batching | Displays the number of draw calls Unity combined with static batching, and the number of batches. | No |
| Instancing | Displays the number of draw calls Unity combined with GPU instancing, and the number of batches. | No |
Resources
The bottom row of the details pane contains the following statistics. Each statistic appears only if Unity captured data for it.
Statistic | Description | Accessible in Release Players |
|---|---|---|
| Buffers | Displays the total number of GPU buffers and the memory they used. This includes vertex, index and compute buffers, and all internal buffers required for rendering. | Yes |
| VBO uploads | Displays the number of times the CPU uploaded vertex, normal, and texture coordinate data to the GPU during a frame, and the amount of data it uploaded. This statistic includes only the geometry Unity transfers in a frame, so there might already be geometry on the GPU. | Yes |
| IBO uploads | Displays the number of times the CPU uploaded triangle index data to the GPU during a frame, and the amount of data it uploaded. This statistic includes only the geometry Unity transfers in a frame, so there might already be geometry on the GPU. | Yes |
| Textures | Displays the number of textures Unity used during a frame, and the amount of memory those textures used. | No |
| RT changes | Displays the number of times Unity set one or multiple RenderTextures as render targets during a frame. | Yes |
| Skinned meshes | Displays the number of Skinned Mesh Renderers that were visible during a frame. | Yes |
GPU Resident Drawer
If the GPU Resident Drawer ran during the frame you select, Unity displays a GPU Resident Drawer area in the details pane. Each section in this area appears only if Unity captured data for it.
The title row of the area can display the following badges. Hover over the renderer issues badge to display its breakdown by reason.
Badge | Description |
|---|---|
| renderer issues | Displays the number of renderers that have a problem with their assets, such as a missing mesh or an unassigned material. These renderers produce no draw call. Note: Unity excludes this value from Coverage %. |
| inactive | Displays the number of renderers whose GameObject or Renderer component is disabled. No rendering path draws these renderers. Note: Unity excludes this value from Coverage %. |
The area contains the following sections.
Section | Description |
|---|---|
| GRD coverage | Displays a bar split into GRD, which is the number of renderers the GPU Resident Drawer drew, and Excluded, which is the number that fell back to another path. The trailing percentage is the number of GRD renderers as a proportion of both values. If there are exclusions, expand the GRD coverage row to display the count for each exclusion reason. For more information, refer to GPU Resident Drawer exclusion reasons reference. |
| Culling | Displays a bar that splits the instances the GPU Resident Drawer processed into Visible and the categories that removed the rest: Frustum, Occlusion, GPU occlusion, LOD group, Small mesh, and Other. The trailing percentage is the proportion of instances that are visible. Other combines Layer mask, Rendering disabled, and any remaining categories. Expand the row to display each of these separately. |
| LOD distribution | Displays the number of rendered instances at LOD 0, LOD 1, LOD 2, and LOD 3+. The trailing percentage is the number of instances Unity drew at an LOD level of an LOD Group, as a proportion of all instances the GPU Resident Drawer processed. Because the total includes culled instances, the percentage isn't a proportion of rendered instances. |
| Pipeline | Displays the CPU time the GPU Resident Drawer spent in the frame, split into Data collection, Batch building, Upload, and Culling schedule, with the total in milliseconds. Select the Pipeline row to display the individual stages, including the Transform, Motion, Probe, and Component override dispatch stages. |
To use these statistics to improve coverage in your project, refer to Analyze the GPU Resident Drawer in URP.
Availability in Players
The Rendering module Profiler counters are also available in Players. Use the ProfilerRecorder API to access Render Profiler module information in Players. Some Rendering counters are also available in Release Players. For more information, refer to Rendering counters.
The GPU Resident Drawer counters belong to the GPU Resident Drawer Profiler category. They're available only in the Unity Editor and in development Players, not in Release Players.
The following example contains a simple script that collects , and metrics and displays those as TextArea.
SetPass Calls CountDraw Calls CountVertices Countusing System.Text;using Unity.Profiling;using UnityEngine; public class RenderStatsScript : MonoBehaviour{ string statsText; ProfilerRecorder setPassCallsRecorder; ProfilerRecorder drawCallsRecorder; ProfilerRecorder verticesRecorder; void OnEnable() { setPassCallsRecorder = ProfilerRecorder.StartNew(ProfilerCategory.Render, "SetPass Calls Count"); drawCallsRecorder = ProfilerRecorder.StartNew(ProfilerCategory.Render, "Draw Calls Count"); verticesRecorder = ProfilerRecorder.StartNew(ProfilerCategory.Render, "Vertices Count"); } void OnDisable() { setPassCallsRecorder.Dispose(); drawCallsRecorder.Dispose(); verticesRecorder.Dispose(); } void Update() { var sb = new StringBuilder(500); if (setPassCallsRecorder.Valid) sb.AppendLine($"SetPass Calls: {setPassCallsRecorder.LastValue}"); if (drawCallsRecorder.Valid) sb.AppendLine($"Draw Calls: {drawCallsRecorder.LastValue}"); if (verticesRecorder.Valid) sb.AppendLine($"Vertices: {verticesRecorder.LastValue}"); statsText = sb.ToString(); } void OnGUI() { GUI.TextArea(new Rect(10, 30, 250, 50), statsText); }}
The Rendering counters belong to the ProfilerCategory.Render Profiler category.
If you want to highlight the selected Rendering counters in a custom module, use the Module Editor to configure the chart and detailed view.
Rendering counters
Use the following counter names with the category in the ProfilerRecorder API or the Profiler Module Editor.
ProfilerCategory.RenderCounter | Description | Accessible in Release Players |
|---|---|---|
| The number of times Unity switched which shader pass it used to render GameObjects during a frame. | Yes |
| The total number of draw calls Unity issued during a frame. | Yes |
| The number of triangles Unity processed during a frame. | Yes |
| The number of vertices Unity processed during a frame. | Yes |
| The number of draw calls Unity issued without batching. | Yes |
| The number of indirect draw calls Unity issued without batching. | Yes |
| The number of draw calls that GPU instancing optimized. | Yes |
| The number of draw calls that the SRP Batcher optimized. | Yes |
| The number of draw calls that the BatchRendererGroup API optimized, which includes the draw calls the GPU Resident Drawer issued. | Yes |
| The number of indirect draw calls that the BatchRendererGroup API optimized. | Yes |
| The number of draw calls that rendered no geometry. | Yes |
| The number of indirect draw calls that rendered no geometry. | Yes |
| The number of dynamic batches Unity processed during a frame. | No |
| The number of draw calls Unity combined into dynamic batches. | No |
| The number of triangles in the GameObjects included in the dynamic batches. | No |
| The number of vertices in the GameObjects included in the dynamic batches. | No |
| The number of static batches Unity processed during a frame. | No |
| The number of draw calls Unity combined into static batches. | No |
| The number of triangles in the GameObjects included in the static batches. | No |
| The number of vertices in the GameObjects included in the static batches. | No |
| The number of batches Unity processed to render instanced GameObjects during a frame. | No |
| The number of draw calls Unity combined into instance batches. | No |
| The number of triangles in the instanced GameObjects. | No |
| The number of vertices in the instanced GameObjects. | No |
| The number of textures Unity used during a frame. | No |
| The total memory size, in bytes, of the textures Unity used during a frame. | No |
| The number of RenderTextures Unity used during a frame. | Yes |
| The total memory size, in bytes, of the RenderTextures Unity used during a frame. | Yes |
| The number of times Unity set one or multiple RenderTextures as render targets during a frame. | Yes |
| The total number of GPU buffers. This includes vertex, index, and compute buffers, and all internal buffers required for rendering. | Yes |
| The amount of memory the GPU buffers used, in bytes. | Yes |
| The number of times the CPU uploaded vertex, normal, and texture coordinate data to the GPU during a frame. | Yes |
| The amount of vertex, normal, and texture coordinate data the CPU uploaded to the GPU during a frame, in bytes. | Yes |
| The number of times the CPU uploaded triangle index data to the GPU during a frame. | Yes |
| The amount of triangle index data the CPU uploaded to the GPU during a frame, in bytes. | Yes |
| The number of GameObjects that cast shadows during a frame. If multiple lights light a GameObject, the GameObject has one entry for each shadow it casts. | Yes |
| The number of Skinned Mesh Renderers that were visible during a frame. | Yes |
For the names of the GPU Resident Drawer counters, refer to the counter tables in Chart modes. The counter names match the names in the tables.