Performance Tips

intermediate performance

Trails FX · Troubleshooting & FAQ

Trails FX is designed for high performance with GPU-instanced rendering and mesh pooling. Follow these guidelines to optimize for your target platform.

General Optimization

Setting	Recommendation
Duration	Keep as short as visually acceptable. Shorter durations mean fewer active snapshots.
Max Steps Per Frame	Use the lowest value that still looks smooth. Default (12) works for most cases; only increase for very fast objects.
Steps Buffer Size	Size the buffer to hold only the snapshots needed for the duration. Oversized buffers waste memory.
Continuous	Avoid enabling Continuous unless necessary. Prefer movement-based triggers (World Position Change or Screen Position Change) for fewer snapshots.
Clear Stencil	Disable when overlapping trails are not an issue — saves draw calls.

Skinned Mesh Optimization

Setting	Recommendation
Use Last Animation	Enable when animation accuracy is not critical. All snapshots share the same vertex data, reducing GPU batches significantly.
Max Batches	Lower this value for characters with long trails. Each unique animation frame requires a separate batch.
Interpolate	Provides smoother results but adds shader computation. Disable on low-end hardware if needed.
Animation States	Restrict trails to specific animation states (e.g., `Attack`) instead of generating trails at all times.

Draw Call Reduction

Merge With Trail — for multi-part characters, merging child trails into a master trail reduces stencil passes.
SubMesh Mask — exclude submeshes that do not need trails (e.g., interior geometry).
Camera Distance Fade — enable to skip rendering trails on distant objects.

Platform-Specific Tips

Platform	Recommendation
Mobile	Use shorter durations, fewer steps per frame, and prefer Color style over Clone or Space Distortion.
Console	All features perform well. Monitor GPU batch count in the Profiler.
VR	Keep Max Steps Per Frame low. Disable Space Distortion if frame rate is tight.

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