How to install the Universal Render Pipeline
Installing URP in Unity
In the last article, I looked at creating a Sci-Fi Control Room. Today, I’ll be going over installing the Universal Render Pipeline into a project!
There are two methods to go about getting the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) into a project in Unity. The first is to simply create a new project from Unity Hub and select the URP project template. The second is to upgrade an existing project to URP manually.
Method 1: Creating a new URP Project And Importing Your Assets
For the first method, open Unity Hub, click the “New Project” button, and select the Universal Render Pipeline template. In the following image that template is listed as “3D Sample Scene (URP).”
This method is simpler than upgrading an existing Unity project from the Standard Unity Renderer but does require you to re-import or recreate your assets. One way to do this would be to build your project starting with the standard template project in Unity and then, before moving to a URP project, export the project to a Unity package file that can be reimported into the new URP project. To do this, select the Export package option from the Assets menu.
Once your package is exported you can create a new project using the URP project template, once the project is open double click on the unitypackage file and click import to bring the assets from your standard project into the new URP project.
Chances are that your materials will need updated to work with the URP pipeline. This will be easily determined by the appearance of your models displaying as pink.
To fix this select Edit > Render Pipeline > Universal Render Pipeline > Upgrade Project Materials to UniversalRP Materials
After clicking “Proceed” on the dialog box that is displayed warning you that you are about to replace materials in your project, the project will be updated and your models should look like they did before.
There may be a material or two that was not converted properly and is therefore still hot pink. If this is the case you want to go into the material for that object and change the shader, via the Shader dropdown, to “Universal Render Pipeline > Lit.”
Method 2: Installing the Universal Render Pipeline into and existing project
The second method involves installing the URP package into your standard render project and configuring it. Once you have built your scene(s) in a project using the Standard Rendering Pipeline and are ready to upgrade the project to URP, open the Package Manager and install the Universal RP package.
1) Select Window > Package Manager in Unity 2) Select the “Unity Packages” Tab 3) Select Universal RP in the list 4) Click Install
Once installed, You need to create a “Universal Rendering Pipeline Asset.” In the project window, right click and select “Create > Rendering > Universal Render Pipeline > Pipeline Asset”
Lastly, you need to add the new pipeline asset to the projects Graphics settings. This is done by Clicking “Edit > Project Settings… > Graphics”, then adding the newly created Universal Render Pipeline Asset into the Scriptable Render Pipeline Settings field.
Once the Universal Render Pipeline Asset is selected, the project is using the Universal Render Pipeline! You’ll notice that your textures will turn pink. This is solved in the same way as method 1.
To fix this select Edit > Render Pipeline > Universal Render Pipeline > Upgrade Project Materials to UniversalRP Materials
After clicking “Proceed” on the dialog box that is displayed warning you that you are about to replace materials in your project, the project will be updated and your models should look like they did before.
There may be a material or two that was not converted properly and is therefore still hot pink. If this is the case you want to go into the material for that object and change the shader, via the Shader dropdown, to “Universal Render Pipeline > Lit.”
Next Time!
In this article, I looked at how to upgrade a Unity project from the Standard Unity Renderer to the Universal Rendering Pipeline. Next time, I’ll be looking at adding a custom Skybox to my project! If you enjoyed this article, or want to come along with me as I progress on my journey, follow me at gamedevchris.medium.com.
