Which to pick?
- Choose Dynamic Fog & Mist when you need a lightweight, fast, height/screen-space fog for gameplay with simple fog-of-war clears and minimal setup. Great for mid/low-end targets and scenes that change often.
- Choose Volumetric Fog & Mist when you need true volumetric lighting, richer interactions (lights, voids, terrain fit, transparents), and advanced fog-of-war tooling. Best for cinematic or higher-fidelity targets.
Feature comparison
| Category | Dynamic Fog & Mist 2 | Volumetric Fog & Mist 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Rendering model | 2D/height-based screen/volume fog | Raymarched volumetric fog (3D) |
| Fog of War | Yes; square texture; main-thread updates; circle/rect edits | Yes; separate width/height; optional background-thread updates; circle/rect + collider + mesh stamping; coverage preview |
| FoW texture size | Single size (square) | Independent width/height; local/world anchoring |
| FoW transitions | Up to 10k | Up to 64k |
| FoW blur | Yes | Yes |
| Fog voids (holes) | Not available | Yes; up to 8 tracked voids |
| Lights | Limited; only day-night cycle from main light | Native lights; fast point lights; APV support |
| Distant/sky fog | Not a separate pass | Dedicated distant-fog pass with noise & lighting |
| Terrain fit | Not available | Heightmap capture camera to conform fog to terrain/meshes |
| Sub-volumes | Yes (profile blending) | Yes (profile blending) |
| Follow mode | Basic (controller fade) | Follow target (Full XYZ / XZ) with offsets |
| Update throttling | Standard per-frame | “When visible” / “camera inside bounds” modes |
| Transparency handling | Standard URP pass | Depth prepass options, transparent/semi-transparent masks, depth peeling toggle, shadergraph integration |
| Performance profile | Lower cost; minimal passes | Higher cost; raymarch + optional depth prepasses, lights, distant fog, voids, terrain capture |
| Best use cases | Gameplay, open worlds, fast weather, mid/low-end | Cinematics, shafts, high-fidelity atmosphere, authored volumes |
Performance notes
- Dynamic Fog: Typically one main pass; FoW and blur add modest cost. Good for lower-end GPUs.
- Volumetric Fog: Cost scales with sample density, resolution, lights (native/point), depth prepasses (transparent/semi-transparent, depth peeling), distant-fog pass, voids, and terrain-fit capture. Use downscaling, edge-aware blur, and update-throttling modes to contain cost.
Note: when you purchase Volumetric Fog & Mist, you will get Dynamic Fog & Mist for free!
