Render Settings
Set the composition-wide render policy: integrator mode, ray-tracing stack, and global post-process toggles. One per graph.
What it does
Render Settings holds the render policy for the whole composition: which integrator resolves the lighting, the ray-tracing stack, and the post-process toggles that run over the finished frame. It has no output pin and is never wired. Drop one anywhere in the graph and every render finds it, the same way the Canvas and Timeline nodes work.
Depth of field and anti-aliasing are not here. They are per render, so their controls sit on the Render node.
With no Render Settings node in the graph, defaults apply: ray tracing on at Half resolution with traced shadows and traced ambient occlusion, reflections and global illumination off, a shadow budget of 4, and every post toggle off.
When to use it
Switching the composition between the real-time hybrid integrator and the path tracer.
Turning on ray-traced reflections or global illumination.
Enabling bloom, outlines, motion blur or auto exposure for the composition.
Trading ray-tracing cost against frame rate:
rt_qualityandrt_shadow_budget.
| Parameter | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
render_mode | String | "Realtime" | Realtime: analytic hybrid ray tracing (default). Path Traced: unbiased path tracer (SAME scene BVH / lights / materials). Crank pt_samples up for export-quality convergence, low for an interactive viewport. One of: Realtime, Path Traced. |
pt_samples | Number | 1 | Path-traced sample budget — more samples = less noise, longer render. Low for an interactive viewport, high for export / stills. |
pt_max_bounces | Number | 8 | Maximum path-tracer bounces per ray. Higher captures more indirect light at more cost. |
rt_enabled | Boolean | true | Enable GPU ray tracing for shadows, AO, reflections, and GI |
rt_quality | String | "Half" | Ray resolution relative to the output: Half traces 1/4 the rays and reconstructs edges from the full-res depth/normals; Full is 4x the cost. One of: Full, Half, Quarter. |
rt_shadows | Boolean | true | Ray-traced shadows (replaces shadow maps) |
rt_ao | Boolean | true | Ray-traced ambient occlusion (composes with screen-space AO) |
rt_reflections | Boolean | false | Ray-traced reflections for glossy/metallic surfaces |
rt_gi | Boolean | false | Ray-traced global illumination via DDGI irradiance probes |
denoise_passes | Number | 3 | Spatial denoiser passes (0=temporal only, 3=standard, 5=high quality) |
rt_shadow_budget | Number | 4 | At most this many lights cast shadows per frame (strongest first, sun/directional always kept). 0 = unlimited. Shadows cost per caster |
ao_radius | Number | 1 | Max ray distance for ambient occlusion (world units) |
gi_probe_spacing | Number | 2 | DDGI probe grid spacing in world units — smaller = denser probe grid, more accurate indirect light, higher cost |
ao_enabled | Boolean | true | Ambient occlusion adds contact shadows in crevices (horizon-based GTAO) |
bloom_enabled | Boolean | false | Bloom adds a soft glow around bright areas |
bloom_threshold | Number | 1 | HDR luminance cutoff — pixels brighter than this glow |
bloom_intensity | Number | 0.500 | Bloom glow intensity multiplier |
outline_enabled | Boolean | false | Detect depth and normal discontinuities for stylized edge rendering |
outline_strength | Number | 1 | Edge visibility — 0 = invisible, 1 = full strength |
outline_threshold | Number | 0.100 | Edge detection sensitivity — lower values detect more edges |
outline_color_r | Number | 0 | Outline color red channel |
outline_color_g | Number | 0 | Outline color green channel |
outline_color_b | Number | 0 | Outline color blue channel |
motion_blur_enabled | Boolean | false | Per-pixel directional blur from G-buffer motion vectors |
auto_exposure_enabled | Boolean | false | Automatically adjust exposure based on scene brightness |
parent_mode | String | "Match Parent" | How this node relates to the parent graph. Match Parent inherits values. Independent uses local values. Link Parent creates a bidirectional connection. One of: Match Parent, Independent, Link Parent. |
Gotchas
Keep exactly one per graph. A second is not rejected and raises no error in the interface. One of the two wins, a warning goes to the log, and which one wins can change between runs of the same file.
Three parameters have no effect. denoise_passes reaches the renderer's configuration and is read by nothing, so the denoiser runs a fixed three spatial passes whatever it says. gi_probe_spacing is never copied out of the settings at all, and the probe grid stays at its built-in spacing. parent_mode is inert here too: all three choices behave alike, because nothing supplies a parent to match against.
Path Traced overrides the analytic result on every lit surface, so rt_shadows, rt_ao, rt_reflections and rt_gi stop changing the image while still costing what they cost. Turn them off before a path-traced render.
rt_enabled gates the path tracer as well. With ray tracing off, Path Traced renders without one.
pt_samples and pt_max_bounces are the export and accumulation budget. The interactive viewport forces a single sample and a single bounce and leans on the denoiser, so raising them changes nothing until the frame accumulates.
ao_enabled is the screen-space method that stands in when ray tracing is off. With the defaults, rt_ao is on and this toggle does nothing. It also needs a perspective camera.
Render Mode is not stored on the node. It lives in the project's render state, alongside the viewport toolbar button that flips it, and an exported bundle carries no render state, so a path-traced composition plays back in the player on the real-time integrator.
Wiring a value into any pin on this node does nothing. The policy is read from the node's own stored parameters and evaluated at the frame, so keyframes and expressions work and a connected wire does not.
Worked example
Add a Render Settings node anywhere in the graph. Nothing is wired to it.
Turn on
rt_reflectionsso glossy and metallic surfaces mirror the scene.Turn on
bloom_enabledand lowerbloom_thresholduntil the highlights bleed.Drop
rt_qualityto Quarter if the frame rate falls, and lowerrt_shadow_budgetif the scene has many lights.For a final still, set Render Mode to Path Traced and raise
pt_samplesuntil the noise clears.