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Question Is there a need to manually turn off particle systems that are not on screen?

Discussion in 'General Graphics' started by FrickinSilly, Mar 22, 2023.

  1. FrickinSilly

    FrickinSilly

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    So let's say I have a tree in a scene and the tree sheds leaves. The falling leaves are achieved using a traditional particle system.

    For performance reasons, is it helpful if I set up a collider and script that turns off the particle system when off screen? Or will Unity automatically optimize off-screen particle systems?
     
    FrickinSilly, Mar 22, 2023
    #1

  2. MelvMay

    MelvMay

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    The particle system isn't a 2D feature so I'll move your post to the General Graphics forum for you and add a "particles" tag.
     
    MelvMay, Mar 22, 2023
    #2
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  3. karl_jones

    karl_jones

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    karl_jones, Mar 22, 2023
    #3
    richardkettlewell and FrickinSilly like this.

  4. FrickinSilly

    FrickinSilly

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    Thank you!
     
    FrickinSilly, Mar 22, 2023
    #4

  5. c0d3_m0nk3y

    c0d3_m0nk3y

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    c0d3_m0nk3y, Mar 23, 2023
    #5

  6. karl_jones

    karl_jones

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    karl_jones, Mar 23, 2023
    #6
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  7. Torbach78

    Torbach78

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    without 100% trust of my profiling skills i assume masked Shuriken objects (still within cam FOV) utilize 100% CPU usage .. but not necessarily GPU?
     
    Torbach78, Mar 24, 2023
    #7

  8. richardkettlewell

    richardkettlewell

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    what does “masked” mean here? covered by other objects? (occluded)
     
    richardkettlewell, Mar 24, 2023
    #8

  9. Torbach78

    Torbach78

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    Last edited: Mar 25, 2023
    Torbach78, Mar 25, 2023
    #9
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  10. richardkettlewell

    richardkettlewell

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    In general, these kinds of masking techniques don't eliminate the entire GPU cost.
    As you speculated, the CPU cost is always there.
    The GPU *vertex shader* cost is also always there.
    The only performance saving is that occluded pixels will be skipped.
     
    richardkettlewell, Mar 27, 2023
    #10