Beautify! - Improve image quality producing incredibly crisp and vivid scenes

Hi all,

Here's a guideline for anyone having questions or issues running Beautify 2 in URP:

1.- Create a new project in Unity 2019.3

2.- Install both Universal RP and Post Processing Stack v2 from the Package Manager

3.- Select the URP setting pipeline and switch “Feature Set” from Integrated to Post Processing v2.

Important! Unity allows you to override the default URP settings asset in "Project Settings / Graphics" section with custom URP assets in the "Project Settings / Quality" section. For example, if you have High Quality level selected in “Project Settings / Quality” section, you can assign there a different URP settings asset. In fact, the project template “Universal Rendering Pipeline” assigns a different URP asset per each quality there, which will be used instead of the default URP settings you may have in the Graphics section.

4.- Select your camera and enable Post Processing checkbox.

5.- You can now import and use Beautify 2 (the package for PPSv2) and add it to a PPSv2 profile (as you would add other effects in PPSv2).

Additional hints:

1. The demo scene included in Beautify 2 uses materials for built-in so they will show in pink (because PPSv2 can also be used in built-in). To use the demo scene just select “Edit” -> “Universal Render Pipeline” -> “Upgrade Project Materials to UniversalRP Materials” option. New update will include a demo with materials for URP to avoid confusion.
2. If you bloom doesn’t seem to work properly in GameView, reduce bloom threshold or enable HDR in the URP settings asset.

Best regards

 

Hi everyone,
Beautify for URP compatible with integrated Post-Processing is now available for public testing on our website. If you're already using Beautify and want to try this version which doesn't require PPSv2, please sign up on our support forum and send me your invoice number to get access.

 

Hi!

As you know, Spring Sale is coming to an end..
You can still grab our most popular assets at 50% OFF.
Check them here -> https://assetstore.unity.com/publishers/15018

Thanks!

 

Hi,

what is the proper way to upgrade from Beautify 1 to Beautify 2? Do I have to delete the old folder of Beautify 1? Does my old settings remain?

Thanks,
Jakub

 

You should be able to import the new package over the previous one. However if you have moved the plugin or are using a old version, you can also remove your current version and do a fresh import. Your settings will be preserved in any case.

 

Hello,

I have a problem, I use Alloy hair shader and I had to set the render queue to 2999 because of Enviro sky, but Beautify DoF effect just blurs the whole hair if I do that. Do you have any ideas how to fix it?

 

Have you tried setting the hair to a custom layer and use the "Exclusion Mask" option of Depth of Field?

 

Hi all!

Glad to announce Beautify URP version compatible with integrated post-processing is now included in latest version of Beautify 2! This new version does not use PPSv2 and has been tested with Mac, Windows, Android, iOS and Oculus Quest.

Important if you're upgrading from previous PPSv2 version
You'll need to remove the PPSv2 version that before importing the URP version. Also remember to uninstall or disable PPSv2 in the Universal Rendering Pipeline asset.

Optimization options
This new URP version has been written from scratch for URP and comes with new optimizations:



Along the shader performance optimizations, it comes with the ability to optimize the build process including both Beautify and the integrated Post Processing. Enable "Automatic Strip Unused Features" and "Strip All" under Unity Post Processing Build to dramatically reduce the compilation time for both!

We hope you enjoy this update.

Regards

 

I havent tried with another layer. Is there another solution for that problem?

 

Could you send a screenshot of the issue by email? Maybe we can find a workaround by limiting the DoF effect to certain depth range.

 

Hi,

Here's a short article about some new features included in Beautify for URP:
https://link.medium.com/SyMER627g6

Regards

 

running beautify URP on our oculus quest causes the game to crash on boot.

It is currently failing to render any frames

 

Are you using Beautify 2? Built-in or URP pipeline?

 

Hello,

While I very much enjoy using Highlight Plus, when applying an outline to a large number of objects I find the performance in Beautify 2 much better. How might I go about adjusting the default width of the outline in Beautify? Any insight would be much appreciated as I am a complete newbie with HLSL.

 

Hi! In Beautify, the outline effect is integrated in final pass meaning it can only use pixel neighbourhood so the outline remains thin. However stay tuned for next Highlight Plus update which comes with GPU instancing support and improves significantly performance when used on many objects at the same time.
Regards

 

I was using Beautify for the built-in pipeline and am trying to use the PPSv2 version with the same settings, but it doesn't seem to be working properly, have you seen this before?

 

Do you mean the foggy scene on the right side? And are you using LWRP or URP?

 

Yes it's doing the Compare mode, so left is without it.
Using the built-in standard pipeline(non LWRP/URP/HDRP)

 

Well, let me know which Unity version are you using. In Built-in I recommend using the camera effect, not the PPSv2 version as there's no benefit using it (PPSv2 targets LWRP mostly).

 

Unity 2019.3.15f1
Ah I see, just thought it would be faster if it's on the Post processing stack instead of a separate file as I'm using the PPSv2 anyways. Camera effect works fine though so I can just revert back to it.

 

Hi there,

Has anyone had any luck applying Beautify to TextMesh Pro? It's not working for me at all. Wondering if there's some extra setup I need to do. Thank you.

 

Which pipeline?

 

Built in render pipeline

 

Do you have Beautify attached to the Screen Space Overlay camera?

 

I have a world camera and it's working on everything else but TextMesh Pro.

 

You can see here it's working on image but not text mesh pro

 

Try placing Beautify script on the UI camera.

 

The images attached show that all the game objects are on the layer "UI-Foreground", this layer is only showing on the UI Camera, so the bloom effect in the image attached wouldn't be working if Beautify wasn't applied on the camera. I'm not sure why it doesn't work. I've used Beautify for a while now but this is the first time I have an issue, I've never used it with text mesh pro though.

I've tried applying another effect, depth of field for example instead of Bloom and it works. But Bloom does not work with Text Mesh Pro. So I thought maybe it was my custom font, nope even default font doesn't work.

I've attached my TextMesh Pro settings. Maybe they're some caveat I'm now aware of that affects Beautify?

Thanks for helping me out.

 

Ok it works when I apply "Everything" in the Layer Mask under bloom. This doesn't make much sense though since the element is under a specific layer. But anyway, thank you.

 

Oh and I thought you should know if color gradient is applied to text mesh pro, it doesn't work.

 

Hi there,

I am applying blur using DoF because the other blur available doesn't allow me to blur certain objects.
Anyway, everything works except I have two issues.

1. When I change the scale of my character(excluded from Blur), for example Scale x -1, it becomes included within the blur. Once I change it back to positive 1, it unblurs again. What could be the issue here? See attached what settings I have for DoF.

2. When blur is working properly(on the positive scale), around the character you can see some parts are not blurred, this is all around. It becomes super noticeable if I set blur any higher than 0.05f. See attached. These are Spine(animation) objects, but I doubt that is related.

I would really appreciate any help. At least, if we can get the first scale issue solved, that would be a BIG help. Otherwise, our second solution is very ugly in code, we were hoping to simply do it with your asset. I hope this can be solved, thank you!

I'm using Beautify Version 7.2 and Unity 2019.3.13.

 

This was Kronnect's/Thrawn75 response in the Discord channel, in case anyone else run into this issue:

"regarding the DoF blur issue with your Spine characters, I understand you're using the Exclude Layer or Transparent options of Depth of Fiedl? These options uses a custom depth pass to obtain specific depth data from the excluded or transparent objects. When you change the scale to -1 to your character, you're effectively inverting the orientation of the triangles of the sprites. By default Spine shaders I guess are ignoring culling but the custom depth pass it not, so those triangles are blurred when orientation changes. Try the following change: locate & edit the CopyDepth and CopyDepthBiased shaders in Beautify/Resources/Shader and add "Cull Off" so they reads like this:

Code (CSharp):

1. Tags{ "RenderType" = "Transparent" }
2. Cull Off
3. Pass{"

"

 

Hello. Thanks to your great asset. Here, please ask a question. Beautify (not 2) has a selective layer in Bloom, but I cannot find selective layer in Bloom of Beautify 2. Can I use it in Beautify 2?

 

Hi, that option is not yet available in Beautify 2.
Regards

 

OK. Thank you for your replay.

 

I've done the selective layer in Bloom of Beautify 2!
I used the

BEAUTIFY_BLOOM_USE_LAYER

code which is not used now but left, and code using

depthCam

in Beautify (not 2).
(Maybe, we can also implement this function without depthCam in URP...?)

 

Ha! So you found WIP code
Yes, the idea is to use a custom render objects pass to avoid using a secondary camera in URP. A similar pass is included in Volumetric Fog & Mist to compute depth of certain objects.

 

Hi! i'm working in a 2D game and I use Light 2D with URP but I need to set New 2D render data. But I want use Beautify 2 too so I don't know how to do. If I set default the UniversalRenderPipeline from Demo of Beautify it work, but my lights don´t. Is possible I have both? Thanks!

 

Hi,
The URP 2D Renderer currently doesn’t support custom image effects nor render features. Not sure if this is planned for 2020.x, will ask the URP team and report back.
Regards

 

Hi,
can I ask you if you'd know what can be done when Beautify 2 reports these errors (URP 8.2.0, WebGL 2.0, Unity 2020.1 – and PPv2 uninstalled):

Invalid pass number (#) for Graphics.Blit (Material "(Unknown material)" with 1 passes)

UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent(Int32, IntPtr, Boolean&)

Restarting the Editor, or deleting the GI cache doesn't fix it, and consequently, no Beautify effect works.
Beautify worked fine for me in the built-in pipeline; but when I upgraded my project to URP, the aforementioned errors start to appear as soon as I add Beautify to the (otherwise empty) renderer features.







The scene doesn't matter. It can be my own basically empty scene (in which case only one "stack" of errors shows up), or the demo scene which shows multiple.

Thank you.

 

Hi @Rallix,
Not sure what could be - do you have the URP pipeline asset assigned into the Graphics section of Project Settings? Also note that you can have a different URP asset for each Quality level (check you have the URP asset correctly assigned into Quality section if you have any).
I did a build of demo scene 1 from an empty project using your setup on WebGL (run this with Chrome or Firefox): http://kronnect.me/test/BeautifyWebGLURP
Regards

 

I have rather a complex scene, where i have Beautify 2 - builtin, Ppsv2, and i am trying to use dof from Beautify. Even if i turn off ppsv2, I cannot see the dof effect showing at all, although when i turn on debug, it looks like its picking up dof parameters, but the actual dof effect is not aparent on the scene. i am also using Aura2, Shaderone, but i tried turning them off, still didn't work. Any hints?

 

Hm, does the demo scene which uses DoF work?
Do you have "Direct To Camera" setting disabled in the PPS2 layer in your camera? What happens if you disable PPSv2?
If you are using PPSv2, you could also use the PPSv2 extensions included in Beautify 2 which will add a similar set of options to the Post Processing Stack.

 

Hi,
thanks for the reply. I did have everything assigned according to the setup guide in the documentation.
I also didn't see this error when I created a new project with just Beautify, even when I copied all my other assets into it.

In the end, I deleted the entire Library folder in my original project and let everything reimport, which solved the issue. Probably some temporary Unity hiccup, although I still have no idea what could have caused it.

 

So I'm trying to setup adaptive exposure, but the effect doesn't work in the editor so it is very hard to tweak. Can it be made to work while not in a build or play mode?

 

SceneView refresh rate is different than game play, it would need to be refreshed continuously and it can affect editor performance. Not sure if this is possible but will check.

 

I just commented out the check for isplay and it worked fine enough for my purposes.

 

Cool. Maybe we can just add an option in next update.

 

Hi again. Sorry to bring this up again. Seems like the issue was gone for a while, but it popped up again now. I believe I can fix it by deleting the Library again, but that's a very time-consuming solution. After importing Beautify into a new project (or for the first time in this one), I didn't have the problem; it only appeared (seemingly randomly) after some time of using the asset. When it happens, the Beautify post-processing effects don't work from then on.

As we talked before, I can't reproduce it in a new project either – perhaps it would pop up sooner or later if I did something in the project, but that's not exactly a reliable way to test it. I'm posting a GIF this time. Some observations:

• Disabling Beautify from renderer features stops the errors
• “General Settings/Disable Beautify Effects” stops the errors
• Disabling Beautify in a Volume Profile asset does not stop the errors
• The scene can be completely empty, and the errors will still appear, as long as Beautify is enabled in the project
• Deleting Beautify, restarting the Editor and reimporting it from scratch does not stop the errors

However, these are all only workarounds to stop a barrage of errors in the console, to make Beautify work again, I'd probably have to delete Library again.

 

Hi,
Does the error prevent Beautify from working propertly when you enter in playmode?
When that console error shows up, select it and send me the full error contents.
Also, locate the file BeautifyCore.shader and select it - does it shows any error in the inspector?