Depth Effects
This page is for anyone turning on Depth Effects for the first time. It draws bang shadows and even outlines from screen depth. It takes about 10 minutes.
What is this
The depth texture is the camera's measurement of what is how far in front. Five effects drawn from that information live in the Screen-space Effects group.
| Inspector section | What it draws |
|---|---|
| Depth Rim Light | A light line of even thickness along the whole silhouette |
| Depth Shadow | The shadow bangs cast on the forehead |
| SSAO (Screen Space Occlusion) | Contact shading in folds and where surfaces meet |
| SSSSS (Experimental) | Light bleeding through hair tips and hems |
| Inner Outline | Inner Depth Edge. Boundary lines inside the silhouette, such as collars and chins |
When to use it
- When you want bang shadows to stay steady even as the lighting changes.
- When you want contact shading where clothing meets the body.
Without depth, raising width or intensity puts nothing on screen. The inspector tells you directly what is missing at that point.
Secure depth first
| Environment | What to do |
|---|---|
| VRChat | Turn on the Photo Camera, or have the world enable Screen Camera depth. Check that Manager's Remove depth light on build is off |
| General Unity (BRP) | The MingToon Manager in the scene supplies it automatically in the editor. There is no component to add |
| URP 12 | Run StudioRaming > MingToon > URP > Install Depth Effects Renderer Feature |
| Warudo | You need a Warudo camera with Depth on |
On URP you must also enable Depth Texture on the Renderer Data you use. An avatar cannot force depth on the ordinary VRChat player screen. So lay a floor with Rim and Outline.
Depth availability
Depth Availability decides how the presence of depth is judged.
- Auto is the default. The shader finds it on its own, so leave it here.
- Force On lets the author vouch for hosts the automatic check cannot reach.
- Force Off blocks depth effects completely.
- Diagnostic paints the decision state in color. It is for bug reports.
A mirror camera does not draw its own depth, yet someone else's depth buffer is attached. Reading it as is makes the character use someone else's silhouette as its own shadow.
Diagnostic: for reports only
It paints which depth the shader was looking at in solid colors. The whole look changes. Black is no depth, red is not this screen's buffer, and yellow is normal.
Try it in 30 seconds
- Select a converted face material.
- Turn on Depth Effects.
- Check that Master Width is 1.
- Turn on Depth Shadow.
You succeeded when a bang shadow appears on the forehead. If nothing changes, go to Troubleshooting.
The depth effects master
The switch that turns all five modules on and off, plus their shared values, live here.
| Inspector label | What it changes | Suggested starting value | Raise it / lower it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depth Effects | The master switch of all five modules | On | Off turns all five modules off |
| Master Width | The shared multiplier of Depth Rim Light and Depth Shadow | Leave at the default (1) | At 0, raising each module's width shows nothing |
| Master Bias | The smallest depth difference accepted as a front-back boundary | Leave at the default (0.02) | Lowering it attaches lines to shallow curvature and looks messy |
| Master Softness | The transition width of the depth boundary decision | Leave at the default (0.08) | Lowering it gives a hard ink line, and raising it gives a bled boundary |
| Width Mode | What the thickness is measured against | Leave at the default (Distance Stable) | Screen Pixels thickens the line as you move away |
Depth Rim Light
It draws a light line of even thickness outside the silhouette.
- Check that Depth Effects is on.
- Turn on Depth Rim Light.
- Set Rim Intensity to 1.
- Set Rim Width Multiplier to 2.
You succeeded when an even line of light follows the silhouette.
| Inspector label | What it changes | Suggested starting value | Raise it / lower it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rim Intensity | The brightness multiplier of the line | Leave at the default (1) | At 0, changing color and width shows nothing |
| Rim Width Multiplier | The dedicated multiplier applied to Master Width | Leave at the default (2) | If Master Width is 0, raising this is useless |
| 360 Rim | Whether it wraps the whole silhouette | 1 | At 0 it appears only on the light side, and at 1 it wraps everything |
| Scene Light Influence | How closely it follows the scene brightness | 0.3 | At 0 the line stays even in dark worlds |
| Rim Sample Quality | How many depth samples are read per pixel | Leave at the default (Standard) | Low catches eyes, nose, and mouth as rim too |
Depth Shadow
It pushes the silhouette of the object in front away from the light to draw a shadow band.
- Turn on Depth Shadow on the face material.
- Set Shadow Width to 3.
- Set Shadow Intensity to 1.
- Set Depth Shadow Bias to 0.03.
You succeeded when a bang-shaped shadow appears on the forehead.
| Inspector label | What it changes | Suggested starting value | Raise it / lower it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow Width | The thickness of the pushed band | Leave at the default (3) | Raising it stretches below the forehead, and lowering it sticks to the mesh |
| Shadow Intensity | The final amount of shadow applied | Leave at the default (1) | At 0, raising the width shows nothing |
| Depth Shadow Bias | The smallest gap between the front object and the receiving surface | Leave at the default (0.03) | 0.03 is 3 mm. Lowering it sticks the shadow to the face |
| Depth Stretch | How much the shadow widens with the floating distance | Leave at the default (0.75) | At 0, width alone decides the shadow |
| Depth Falloff | How much further parts fade out | Leave at the default (0.5) | At 1 the furthest shadow disappears completely |
| Softness | The width over which the boundary becomes full shadow | Leave at the default (0.05) | Lowering it snaps, and raising it fades shallow contacts |
| Depth Curve | The curve shared by width, blur, and falloff | Leave at the default (0) | At 0 it is proportional to depth, and raising it changes only the far side |
Sticking and falloff
If the shadow sticks to its own face, raise Depth Shadow Bias. If it still remains, raise Receiver Depth Pushback on the face material. It sits right below the bias. Use it only on receiving materials such as face and body, and leave hair and clothing at 0.
The projected shadows that material receives are turned off automatically. Turning Depth Shadow off or returning the value to 0 restores the original settings.
SSSSS (Experimental)
It makes thin parts look as though they hold light. It is still experimental.
- Turn on Enable Translucency on the hair material.
- Set Translucency Intensity to 1.
- Set Measure Width to 6.
- Move the light behind the character.
You succeeded when the hair tips glow red.
| Inspector label | What it changes | Suggested starting value | Raise it / lower it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Translucency Intensity | The brightness multiplier of the whole translucency | Leave at the default (1) | At 0 the calculation is skipped |
| Measure Width | How far toward the light it looks | Leave at the default (6) | Set it large and even thick parts are judged thin |
| Shell Floor | The lower bound that treats hollow clothing as thin | 0.8 for skirts and capes | At 0 the measured value is used as is |
| Front Light Floor | The translucency ratio left under front light | 0.2 | At 0 skin stops looking like skin |
SSAO (Screen Space Occlusion)
It softly darkens folds and places where surfaces meet.
- Turn on SSAO Enabled on the body material.
- Set SSAO Intensity to 1.
- Set SSAO Radius to 0.005.
- Set SSAO Contrast to 1.
You succeeded when the place where clothing meets the body darkens.
| Inspector label | What it changes | Suggested starting value | Raise it / lower it |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSAO Intensity | The strength of the effect | Leave at the default (1) | At 0 it is invisible, but the calculation still runs |
| SSAO Radius | The distance over which occlusion is searched | Leave at the default (0.005) | Growing it makes contact shading wider and softer |
| SSAO Contrast | The contrast of the occlusion | Leave at the default (1) | Raising it leaves only deeply carved places |
| Quality | How many depth samples SSAO reads per pixel | Leave at the default (Low) | Low 4 · Standard 8 · High 16 |
| SSAO Tint | The color multiplied only into occluded places | White | White leaves the existing shadow color alone |
Inner Depth Edge
It lives in the Inner Outline section. It draws lines on depth steps inside the silhouette.
- Check that Outline Master is on.
- Turn on Enable Inner Depth Edge.
- Set Width to 0.3.
- Set Inner Edge Color dark.
You succeeded when lines appear on collars and under the chin.
| Inspector label | What it changes | Suggested starting value | Raise it / lower it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Width | The thickness of the inner boundary line | Leave at the default (0.3) | Keeping it thinner than the normal outline is usual |
| Depth Bias | The smallest depth difference accepted as a boundary | Leave at the default (0.02) | Lowering it attaches lines to gentle curvature and looks messy |
| Inner Edge Color | The color of the inner boundary line | A color darker than the base | The closer to black, the stronger the comic style |
| Outline Master | The gate shared with the normal outline | On | While off, neither tab is drawn |
Common problems
No depth effect is visible at all
- Check that the All Effects master and Depth Effects are on.
- Check that Master Width is not 0.
- Check that each module's intensity is not 0.
- Review Secure depth first above.
Setting the surface mode to Transparent turns everything off
Transparent (3000) does not write depth. Change the surface mode to Semi-Transparent (2499) in Basic Settings. Semi-Transparent (2499) blends alpha while still writing depth.
The shadow does not follow the body inside a mirror
In mirrors the depth modules step down no matter which value you pick.
More detail
- Every item and its range: Depth Effects Reference
- Choosing a face shadow mode: Character Rendering
- When you are worried about performance: Troubleshooting