Fog Effect Types

intermediate concepts

Dynamic Fog & Mist 2 (Built-in) · Core Concepts

Overview

Dynamic Fog & Mist 2 includes 7 fog shader variants plus orthogonal counterparts. Each variant trades visual quality for performance, letting you pick the right balance for your target platform.

Effect Types

Effect Type	Platform	Sky Haze	Description
Desktop Fog + Sky Haze	Desktop	Yes	Dual-noise animated fog with sky haze. Best visual quality for PC/Mac.
Desktop Fog Plus + Sky Haze	Desktop	Yes	Volumetric approach that improves coverage when no geometry is in front of the camera.
Mobile Fog + Sky Haze	Mobile	Yes	Single-noise variant optimized for mobile. Good balance of quality and speed.
Mobile Fog (No Sky Haze)	Mobile	No	Same as above without the sky haze layer. Saves a texture sample.
Mobile Fog (Simplified)	Mobile	No	Volumetric approach with no noise textures. No animation or turbulence — ideal for static fog.
Mobile Fog (Basic)	Low-end	No	Simplest variant for low-end mobile devices. Minimal GPU cost.
Orthogonal variants	Any	Varies	Compute depth and height separately and mix them. Intended for isometric or special-perspective games.

Shader Mapping

Each effect type uses a specific shader pair depending on the camera projection:

Fog Variant	Perspective Shader	Orthographic Shader
Desktop Fog Plus + Sky Haze	`DFGDesktopPlus`	`DFODesktopPlus`
Desktop Fog Plus Orthogonal	`DFGDesktopPlusOrthogonal`	`DFODesktopPlusOrthogonal`
Desktop Fog + Sky Haze	`DFGDesktop`	`DFODesktop`
Mobile Fog + Sky Haze	`DFGWithSky`	`DFOWithSky`
Mobile Fog (No Sky Haze)	`DFGOnlyFog`	`DFOOnlyFog`
Mobile Fog (Simplified)	`DFGSimple`	`DFOSimple`
Mobile Fog Orthogonal	`DFGOrthogonal`	`DFOOrthogonal`
Mobile Fog (Basic)	`DFGBasic`	`DFOBasic`

Tip: You can safely delete unused materials and shaders from the DynamicFog/Resources folder to reduce build size.

Custom Fog Materials

As an alternative to the full-screen image effect, Dynamic Fog provides per-object fog materials that integrate the fog calculation directly into the object shader. This avoids the full-screen blit pass and can be faster on older mobile devices.

Important: Do not combine fog materials with the image effect or Post-Processing extensions. Use one approach only.

Setup

Duplicate a material from DynamicFog/Resources/Materials.
Customize its properties (color, texture, metallic/glossiness).
Assign it to your GameObjects — you can mix different material types.
Create an empty GameObject and add the DynamicFogManager script. This centralizes fog control for all fog materials.

Standard Materials (DFM prefix)

Material	Lighting	Texture	Notes
`DFMStandardShader`	PBR	Yes	Derived from Unity Standard Shader with fog integrated.
`DFMStandardShaderNormal`	PBR	Yes + Normal	Adds bump mapping.
`DFMStandardShaderNormalOcclusionMap`	PBR	Yes + Normal + AO	Adds separate occlusion map.
`DFMStandardShaderNormalOcclusionIntegrated`	PBR	Yes + Normal	Occlusion stored in main texture alpha.
`DFMStandardShaderSolidColor`	PBR	No	Single color, no textures — faster.
`DFMLambert`	Lambert	Yes	Simple diffuse lighting.
`DFMLambertSolidColor`	Lambert	No	Diffuse + solid color.
`DFMUnlit`	None	Yes	No lighting — texture + fog only.
`DFMUnlitSingleColor`	None	No	Fastest shader — color + fog only.

Reflection Materials (DFR prefix)

These variants add reflection texture support. Assign a reflection texture via mat.SetTexture("_ReflectionTex", texture).

Material	Lighting	Texture
`DFRStandardShader`	PBR	Yes
`DFRStandardShaderSolidColor`	PBR	No
`DFRLambert`	Lambert	Yes
`DFRLambertSolidColor`	Lambert	No
`DFRUnlit`	None	Yes
`DFRUnlitSingleColor`	None	No

Next Steps

Special Features — fog volumes, fog of war, VR support, gradient fog.
Performance Tips — choose the right variant for your target platform.

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