Quick Start

Quick Start - First result in 5 minutes

Follow these steps to start optimizing your shader builds with Shader Control.

Step 1 - Import the package

Open Window > Package Manager, locate Shader Control in My Assets and click Import. If you downloaded the .unitypackage manually, double-click it and import all files.

Step 2 - Open Shader Control

Go to Assets > Browse Shaders... from the Unity top menu. The Shader Control window opens. Dock it next to the Inspector for convenience.

Step 3 - Build View (build optimization)

The Build View tab shows all shaders and keywords from your last build. If no data is shown, click Quick Build and then build your project as usual. That build collects the shader data quickly.

1. Set Sort By to Shader Variant Count, so the shaders with the most variants appear first.
2. Uncheck Include next to the shaders your game does not need, so none of their variants are compiled.
3. Expand the heaviest shaders that you keep and uncheck Include next to the keywords you do not need. If you are not sure which shaders or keywords, read What Can I Disable? first.
4. Build your project normally. Shader Control applies the exclusions automatically.

Step 4 - Project View (keyword management)

Switch to the Project View tab and click Scan Project Folders to list all shaders with source code in your project.

1. Expand a shader to see its keywords and options.
2. Click the checkbox next to a keyword to disable it.
3. Click Save to update the shader file (a backup is created automatically).
4. Click Restore at any time to revert to the backup.

Step 5 - Verify results

Check the statistics box at the top of each tab to compare the shader, keyword and variant counts before and after your changes.

Checklist

• ☑ Package imported successfully
• ☑ Shader Control window opened
• ☑ Quick Build completed (Build View populated)
• ☑ Unnecessary keywords disabled
• ☑ Reduced variant count confirmed in statistics

Next steps

Read What Can I Disable? for a step by step guide, learn more about how shader keywords work, or explore Shader Variant Collections for runtime prewarming.