Many mobile devices have significant hardware limitations compared with desktop hardware and game consoles, especially in terms of compatibility with graphics features. To address this, Unreal Engine has an alternate rendering path for mobile devices. This rendering path uses simplified or performance-oriented models for many of Unreal's rendering features, such as shadows and textures, and it removes many unsupported post-processes. The guides in this section provide details about configuration options and features in the mobile renderer.
The following links contain specialized topics in Mobile rendering.
Feature Levels
The basic Feature Levels for Mobile are as follows:
Feature Level | Description |
---|---|
OpenGL ES 3.2 | The default feature level for Android devices. You can configure the material settings for this feature level in Project Settings > Platforms > Android Material Quality - ES32. |
Android Vulkan | A high-end renderer available for some specific Android devices. For more information on how to use Vulkan in your projects and what GPUs support it, see our guide on the Android Vulkan Mobile Renderer. |
Metal 2.0 | The feature level used for iOS devices. You can configure material settings for this feature level in Project Settings > Platforms > iOS Material Quality. |
Supported Rendering Features
Each column in the tables below lists whether or not a feature is supported. The possible values are as follows:
Value | Description |
---|---|
Yes | The feature is supported on the hardware for this column. |
No | The feature is not supported on the hardware for this column. |
Yes * | The feature is supported, but may require some prerequisites or additional setup to be used. |
Post Process Volume
Feature | Mobile Forward (Open GL ES 3.2, Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Deferred (Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Forward w/ HDR Disabled (Head-mounted Mobile XR) |
---|---|---|---|
Lens | |||
Mobile Depth of Field Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Mobile DoF - High Quality Gaussian DoF | Yes | Yes | No |
Bloom - Standard | Yes | Yes | No |
Bloom - Convolution | No | No | No |
Chromatic Abberation Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Dirt Mask Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Camera Properties | No | No | No |
Lens Flare Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Image Effects Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Cinematic Depth of Field Properties | No | No | No |
Exposure | |||
Metering Mode - Auto Exposure Histogram | Yes | Yes | No |
Metering Mode - Auto Exposure Basic | Yes | Yes | No |
Metering Mode - Manual | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Local Exposure | No | No | No |
Color Grading | |||
Color Grading Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Film | |||
Film Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Rendering Features | |||
Post Process Material Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Ambient Cubemap Properties | No | No | No |
Ambient Occlusion Properties | Yes | Yes | No |
Global Illumination Properties | No | No | No |
Reflections Properties | No | No | No |
Motion Blur Properties | No | No | No |
Translucency Type: Raster | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Translucency Type: Ray Tracing | No | No | No |
Ray Tracing Transluency Properties | No | No | No |
Path Tracer Properties | No | No | No |
Film Grain | |||
Film Grain Properties | No | No | No |
General Rendering Features
Feature | Mobile Forward (Open GL ES 3.2, Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Deferred (Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Forward w/ HDR Disabled (Head-mounted Mobile XR) |
---|---|---|---|
Anti-Aliasing | |||
Temporal Super Resolution (TSR) | No | No | No |
Fast Approximation Anti-Aliasing (FXAA) | Yes | Yes | No |
Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing (MSAA) | Yes | No | Yes |
Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA) | Yes | Yes | No |
Systems/Tools Features | |||
Nanite Virtualize Geometry | No | No | No |
Hardware Ray Tracing Features | No | No | No |
Path Tracer | No | No | No |
Texture Streaming | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Virtual Textures: Streaming | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Virtual Textures: Runtime | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Mesh Distance Fields | Yes * | Yes * | No |
Water System | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Hair and Fur Grooms | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Level of Detail (LOD) | |||
Level of Detail (LOD) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Hierarchical Level of Detail (HLOD) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Dither Fading | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Visibility and Occlusion Culling | |||
Cull Distance Volumes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Precomputed Visibility Volumes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Hardware (GPU) Occlusion Queries | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lighting Features
Feature | Mobile Forward (Open GL ES 3.2, Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Deferred (Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Forward w/ HDR Disabled (Head-mounted Mobile XR) |
---|---|---|---|
Atmosphere and Fog | |||
Sky Atmosphere | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Volumetric Clouds | No | No | No |
Exponential Height Fog | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Volumetric Fog | No | No | No |
Lighting and Shadowing | |||
Dynamic Lighting | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Precomputed/Baked Lighting | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Image Based Lighting | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Standalone Ray Traced Shadows | No | No | No |
Virtual Shadow Maps | No | No | No |
Modulated Shadows | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Capsule Shadows | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Contact Shadows | No | No | No |
Precomputed Translucent Shadows | No | No | No |
Dynamic Translucency Shadows | No | No | No |
Point Light Shadows | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Global Illumination | |||
Lumen GI and Reflections: Software Ray Tracing | No | No | No |
Lumen GI and Reflections: Hardware Ray Tracing | No | No | No |
Precomputed / Baked Global Illumination | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Screen Space Global Illumination | No | No | No |
Standalone Ray Traced Global Illumination (Deprecated) | No | No | No |
Reflections | |||
Reflection Captures (Box/Sphere) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Scene Capture Cubemap | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Scene Capture 2D | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Planar Reflections | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Screen Space Reflections | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Standalone Hardware Ray Traced Reflections (Deprecated) | No | No | No |
High Precision Normals | No | No | No |
Reflection Capture Resolution | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HDR Cubemap | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Direct Specular | Yes | Yes | Yes |
GGX Specular | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Light Type and Mobility Features
Feature | Mobile Forward (Open GL ES 3.2, Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Deferred (Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Forward w/ HDR Disabled (Head-mounted Mobile XR) |
---|---|---|---|
Static Mobility - Light Type | |||
Directional Light | 1 directional light of any type | 1 directional light of any type | 1 directional light of any type |
Sky Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Point Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Spot Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rect Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Static Mobility - General Features | |||
Indirect Lighting Intensity | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lighting Channels | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Light Transmission | No | No | No |
Light Functions | No | Yes | No |
Static Mobility - Directional Light Features | |||
Source Angle | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Light Shafts | Yes | Yes | No |
Modulated Shadows | No | No | No |
Static Mobility - Sky Light Features | |||
SLS Captured Scene | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SLS Specified Cubemap | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Specified Cubemap Resolution | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Static Mobility - Point/Spot/Rect Light Features | |||
IES Texture | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rect Light - Source Texture | No | No | No |
Stationary Mobility - Light Type | |||
Directional Light | 1 directional light of any type | 1 directional light of any type | 1 directional light of any type |
Sky Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Point Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Spot Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rect Light | No | No | No |
(MOBILE) Stationary Mobility - Dynamic Shadow Casting | |||
Directional Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Sky Light | No | No | No |
Point Light | No | No | No |
Spot Light | Yes | Yes | No |
Rect Light | No | No | No |
Stationary Mobility - General Features | |||
Indirect Lighting Intensity | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lighting Channels | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Light Transmission | No | No | No |
Light Function | No | Yes | No |
Stationary Mobility - Directional Light Features | |||
Source Angle | No | No | No |
Cascade Shadow Maps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Light Shafts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Modulated Shadows | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Stationary Mobility - Sky Light Features | |||
SLS Captured Scene | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SLS Specified Cubemap | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Specified Cubemap Resolution | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Stationary Mobility - Point/Spot/Rect Light Features | |||
IES Texture | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rect Light - Source Texture | No | No | No |
Movable Mobility - Light Type | |||
Directional Light | 1 directional light of any type | 1 directional light of any type | 1 directional light of any type |
Sky Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Point Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Spot Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rect Light | No | No | No |
(MOBILE) Movable Mobility - Dynamic Shadow Casting | |||
Directional Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Sky Light | No | No | No |
Point Light | No | No | No |
Spot Light | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rect Light | No | No | No |
Movable Mobility - General Features | |||
Indirect Lighting Intensity | No | No | No |
Lighting Channels | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Light Transmission | No | No | No |
Light Function | No | Yes | No |
Movable Mobility - Directional Light Features | |||
Source Angle | No | No | No |
Cascade Shadow Maps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Light Shafts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Modulated Shadows | No | No | No |
Distance Field Shadows | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Movable Mobility - Sky Light Features | |||
SLS Captured Scene | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SLS Specified Cubemap | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Specified Cubemap Resolution | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Movable Mobility - Point/Spot/Rect Light Features | |||
IES Texture | No | Yes | No |
Rect Light - Source Texture | No | No | No |
Material Features
Feature | Mobile Forward (Open GL ES 3.2, Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Deferred (Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Forward w/ HDR Disabled (Head-mounted Mobile XR) |
---|---|---|---|
Material Inputs | |||
Surface | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Deferred Decal | Yes | Yes | No |
Light Function | No | Yes | No |
Volume | No | No | No |
Post Process | Yes | Yes | No |
User Interface | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Material Blend Mode | |||
Opaque | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Masked | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Translucent | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Additive | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Modulate | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Alpha Composite (Premultiplied Alpha) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Alpha Holdout | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Shading Model | |||
Unlit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Default Lit | Yes | Yes * | Yes |
Subsurface | Yes | Yes * | Yes |
Preintegrated Skin | Yes | Yes * | Yes |
Clear Coat | Yes | Yes * | Yes |
Subsurface Profile | Yes | Yes * | Yes |
Two Sided Foliage | No | No | No |
Hair | No | No | No |
Cloth | No | No | No |
Eye | No | No | No |
Single Layer Water | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Thin Translucent | No | No | No |
From Material Expression | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Material Inputs | |||
Base Color | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Metallic | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Specular | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Roughness | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Anisotropy | No | No | No |
Emissive Color | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Opacity | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Opacity Mask | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Normal | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Tangent | No | No | No |
World Position Offset | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Cloth | No | No | No |
Fuzz Color | No | No | No |
Iris mask | No | No | No |
Iris Distance | No | No | No |
Subsurface Color | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Custom Data 0—7 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ambient Occlusion | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Refraction | Yes | Yes | No |
Pixel Depth Offset | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Shading Model | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Clear Coat | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Backlit (for Hair) | No | No | No |
Decals | |||
Decal Response (DBuffer): Color, Normal, Roughness | No | Yes | Yes |
Decal Response (DBuffer): Color | No | Yes | No |
Decal Response (DBuffer): Color, Normal | No | Yes | Yes |
Decal Response (DBuffer): Color, Roughness | No | Yes | Yes |
Decal Response (DBuffer): Normal | No | Yes | Yes |
Decal Response (DBuffer): Normal, Roughness | No | Yes | Yes |
Decal Response (DBuffer): Roughness | No | Yes | Yes |
Mesh Decals | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Textures
Feature | Mobile Forward (Open GL ES 3.2, Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Deferred (Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Forward w/ HDR Disabled (Head-mounted Mobile XR) |
---|---|---|---|
Compression Settings | |||
Default (DXT1/5, BC1/3 on DX11) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Normal Map (DXT 5, BC5 on DX11) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Masks (no sRGB) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Grayscale (R8, RGB8, sRGB) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Displacement Map (8/16-bit) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Vector Displacement Map (RGBA8) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HDR (RGB, no sRGB) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
User Interface 2D (RGBA) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Alpha (no sRGB, BC4 on DX11) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Distance Field Font (R8) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
HDR Compressed (RGB, BC6H, DX11) | No | No | No |
BC7 (DX11, optional A) | Yes * | Yes * | Yes * |
Half Float (R16F) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Particle Effects
Feature | Mobile Forward (Open GL ES 3.2, Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Deferred (Metal, Vulkan, Switch) | Mobile Forward w/ HDR Disabled (Head-mounted Mobile XR) |
---|---|---|---|
Niagara Particle System | |||
CPU Particles | Yes | Yes | Yes |
CPU Particle Collision | Yes | Yes | Yes |
GPU Particles | Yes | Yes | Yes |
GPU Depth Collision | No | No | No |
Mesh Particles | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Beam Emitter | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Ribbon Emitter | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Anim Trail | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Vector Field | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Particle Lights | No | Yes | No |
GPU Distance Field Collision | No | No | No |
GPU Raytracing Collision (Experimental) | No | No | No |
Fluid Simulation | No | No | No |