Settings

intermediate concepts

Reflections & Settings

This page covers how to add reflections to your scenes and all available parameters in Shiny SSR 2, organized by category.

Forward vs. Deferred

Feature	Forward	Deferred
Setup	Requires `Reflections` script on target objects	Automatic — reads from g-buffers
Per-object control	Full control via Reflections script	Global settings only (unless Mixed Mode is enabled)
Transparent objects	Supported via Reflections script	Requires Mixed Mode + Reflections script
Performance	Can be faster (processes only tagged objects)	Processes entire screen
PBR accuracy	Depends on material properties gathered by script	Per-pixel smoothness/metallic from g-buffers

PBR Workflows (URP)

Workflow	Behavior
Smoothness Only	A single value controls both reflection intensity and surface roughness. Simpler, good for stylized projects.
Metallic and Smoothness	Follows the PBR model: Metallic controls reflection intensity, Smoothness controls sharpness. More physically accurate.

Reflections Script (Per-Object)

Add the Reflections component to objects that should receive reflections (required in Forward, optional in Deferred with Mixed Mode).

Property	Description
Ignore	Excludes this object from reflections. Useful when the script is on a parent covering many children.
Scope	Apply reflections to this object only, include children, or filter by layer/name pattern/sub-meshes.
Use Material Smoothness	Reads the `_Smoothness` property from the object's PBR material.
Smoothness Map	Optional texture whose alpha channel provides per-pixel smoothness (use with Smoothness Source = Custom).
Per Sub Mesh Smoothness	Assigns different smoothness values to individual sub-meshes.
Smoothness	Manual smoothness value used when Use Material Smoothness is off or the material lacks the property.
Use Material Normal Map	Uses the material's normal map for reflection perturbation.
Material Property Names	Shader property names for smoothness map, normal map, and smoothness value. Customize for non-standard shaders.
Skybox Multiplier	Per-object multiplier applied to skybox reflections (`0`–`1`). Lets you dim or boost sky contribution on this object without changing global settings.
Override Global Settings	Enables per-object raytracing overrides (sample count, decay, jitter, etc.).

Exclude Reflections (Per-Object)

Add the ExcludeReflections component to any GameObject whose visible surface should not receive reflections. When the component is enabled it registers itself with Shiny SSRR and the renderers of the GameObject (and its children) are masked out of the reflection composite, so no reflections are blended on top of those pixels. Works in both Forward and Deferred and on both URP and Built-in pipelines.

Property	Description
(no properties)	The component captures all `Renderer` components in itself and its children at `OnEnable` time. Call `Refresh()` from script if you spawn or remove child renderers at runtime.

What this does NOT do: ExcludeReflections only prevents reflections from being drawn over the tagged object. It does not stop the object from appearing in reflections cast by other surfaces (the object is still part of the screen image that SSR samples).

Preventing an object from appearing in other reflections

Because SSR samples the on-screen image, anything visible can be reflected. To keep an object (FPS weapon, in-world UI, decorative gizmo) out of every reflection, render it after Shiny SSRR has finished. Pick one of:

Change the Shiny SSR Renderer Feature event to BeforeRenderingTransparents (or AfterRenderingOpaques) and set the object's material/shader to the Transparent render queue, so it draws after the reflection composite.
Use a Render Objects feature targeting the object's layer with an event set to AfterRenderingTransparents, while excluding that layer from the camera's main culling mask used by Shiny SSRR.
Camera stacking: render the object with an overlay camera whose Renderer asset has no Shiny SSR feature attached.

Typical case — first person weapon: put the weapon on its own layer, then either move the Shiny event to Before Transparents and push the weapon's shader to a transparent queue, or render the weapon with a Render Objects feature scheduled after Shiny. The ExcludeReflections component is not the right tool for this case — it would only prevent the weapon itself from receiving reflections.

General Settings

Setting	Description
Reflections Style	Shiny Reflections for standard appearance or Dark Reflections for a stylized dark-toned look with better performance.
Workflow	Smoothness Only or Metallic and Smoothness (see PBR Workflows above).
Show In Scene View	Renders reflections in the Scene view window for easier editing.
Use Custom Bounds	Restricts reflection rendering to a defined volume.

Quality Settings

Setting	Description
Sample Count	Number of raymarching steps per pixel (4–256). Higher = better quality, more GPU cost.
Max Ray Length	Maximum reflection distance in meters.
Thickness	Assumed geometry thickness for hit detection. Increase if reflections disappear behind thin objects.
Binary Search Iterations	Refinement steps after initial hit (6–8 is usually sufficient).
Compute Back Faces	Runs a depth pre-pass to calculate true surface thickness. Improves accuracy for thin/complex meshes.
Max Thickness	Geometry thickness assumed before binary search.
Thickness Fine	Post-binary-search thickness threshold. Discards hits beyond this distance. Keep as low as possible.
Jitter	Random offset on ray start positions to reduce banding artifacts.
Animated Jitter	Changes jitter per pixel every frame to redistribute noise.
Temporal Filter	Reduces flickering by blending with previous frames.
Response Speed	How fast the temporal filter discards history. Higher = more responsive to changes.
Downsampling	Resolution multiplier for final blurred reflections (1 = full resolution).
Depth Bias	Bias for depth checking. Increase if reflections disappear at distance.

Reflection Intensity

Setting	Description
Intensity	Global multiplier for all reflections.
Min Intensity	Forces a minimum reflection level on all surfaces.
Max Intensity	Caps maximum reflection brightness.
Smoothness Threshold	Minimum smoothness required to receive reflections.
Fresnel	Reduces reflection intensity based on view angle. 1.0 = physically accurate.
Decay	Reduces intensity based on distance to the reflected point.
HDR Clamp	Clamps HDR reflection values to prevent overly bright spots (0.01–10). Default: 3.
Metal Boost	Enhances appearance of metallic surfaces in Deferred mode.
Specular Control	Reduces specular intensity in reflections to minimize flickering from certain materials.
Skybox Intensity	Master intensity of sky/background reflections on surfaces. `0` disables skybox reflections regardless of mode.
Start Distance	Attenuates reflections near the camera (in meters).
Far Fade Start / Range	Attenuates reflections far from the camera (distance + fade range in meters).
Vignette Mode	Falloff shape for screen-edge attenuation. Edge (box) uses the maximum distance to the screen edges (more coverage). Radial uses distance from the screen center.
Vignette Size	Controls reflection fade-out around screen borders.
Vignette Power	Controls the attenuation gradient at screen edges.

Skybox Reflections

Skybox reflections fill in pixels where screen-space rays miss (sky, off-screen background). They work alongside the per-pixel SSR result and are gated by Skybox Intensity.

Setting	Description
Skybox Reflection Mode	Disabled turns off skybox fallback. Visible Sky Only samples the rendered skybox only when sky is visible at the ray endpoint (cheapest, no off-screen sky). Automatic Cubemap bakes the scene skybox into a cubemap so off-screen sky is always available. User Defined Cubemap uses a cubemap you provide.
Skybox Custom Cubemap	Cubemap asset used when mode is User Defined Cubemap.
Skybox HDR	Bakes the cubemap in HDR color format. Enable for HDR skies and tone-mapped pipelines.
Skybox Layer Mask	Culling mask used while baking the cubemap. `0` captures only the default skybox set in Render Settings; otherwise includes objects on the selected layers.
Skybox Resolution	Resolution of the baked cubemap. Lower values reduce memory and bake cost.

Tip: Use Visible Sky Only for outdoor scenes where the sky is on screen most of the time. Use a cubemap mode for interiors with windows or for stylized scenes where reflections should always show sky.

Reflection Sharpness

Setting	Description
Fuzzyness	Distance-based blur multiplier. Distant reflections appear blurrier than contact reflections.
Contact Hardening	Increases sharpness of close-range (contact) reflections.
Minimum Blur	Minimum blur applied to all reflections.
Blur Downsampling	Resolution of blur buffers. Increase to improve performance slightly.
Blur Strength	Controls blur spread along X and Y axes.

Advanced Options

Setting	Description
Output Mode	Debug visualization of internal buffers (reflections only, depth, normals, etc.).
Low Precision	Uses RGBA32 instead of ARGBHalf for internal buffers. Faster on some devices, reduces accuracy.
Stop NaN	Clamps pixel values to valid range. Enable if you see black patches or rendering artifacts.
Stencil Check	Masks reflections based on stencil buffer contents.
Transparent Smoothness	Smoothness used for reflections at transparent pixels driven by the Screen Space Normals -> Transparents toggle on the Render Feature. Higher values give sharper, more mirror-like reflections; lower values blur them. Other transparency options (Depth Prepass, Screen Space Normals) live on the Shiny SSR Renderer Feature inspector since 32.3.
Use Reflections Scripts	Enables per-object Reflections scripts in Deferred mode (Mixed Mode).
Layer Mask	Which Reflections scripts are used when Mixed Mode is active.

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