Performance Tips

intermediate performance

Highlight Plus is designed for minimal GPU overhead. Use these guidelines to optimise for your target platform.

Key Optimisation Levers

Setting	Recommendation
Quality Level	Use Fastest or Medium for simple objects. Reserve Highest (screen-space) for hero objects or when you need pixel-perfect outlines.
GPU Instancing	Keep enabled (default). Batches outline and glow draw calls.
Combine Meshes	Enable for static object groups (children that do not rotate individually). Dramatically reduces draw calls.
Optimal Blit	Enable in Highest Quality mode. Restricts the screen-space pass to the affected region instead of full-screen.
Constant Width	When disabled, outline/glow shrinks with distance, naturally reducing GPU work for far objects.
Effect Group (Include)	Use the narrowest scope possible. Only This Object is cheapest; Layer In Scene is most expensive.
See-Through Occlude Layer	Restrict to only the necessary occluder layers. Fewer raycasts = better CPU performance.
Camera Distance Fade	Enable and set a reasonable far distance to skip rendering for distant objects.

Platform	Suggested Quality	Notes
Mobile	Fastest or Medium	Avoid Highest quality; limit simultaneous highlighted objects to 3–5.
Console	Medium or High	Use Highest only for key objects. Enable Optimal Blit.
PC (mid-range)	High	Highest is fine for a moderate number of objects with Optimal Blit enabled.
PC (high-end)	Highest	No practical limits. Screen-space outline gives the best visual result.

Use Combine Meshes for object groups with many children.
Use Profiles to share settings without duplicating material instances.
Disable effects you do not need (set their intensity to 0) — disabled effects have zero GPU cost.
If an object only needs an outline, disable glow, inner glow, overlay, see-through, and target FX.

Use Unity’s Frame Debugger (Window → Analysis → Frame Debugger) to inspect Highlight Plus draw calls. Look for:

HighlightPlus entries in the call list — each represents a rendering pass.
Full-screen blits (Highest quality without Optimal Blit) — these are the most expensive operations.
Glow pass count — reduce the number of glow passes if cost is high.

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