# Quality settings

Different platforms and computers have different GPU performance capabilities and available graphics memory. With this in mind, HDRP allows you to define multiple [HDRP Assets](create-an-hdrp-asset.md) for your Project. 

Each HDRP Asset can target a specific platform or quality tier to maintain a balance between performance and rendering quality. If you enable fewer effects, HDRP uses less memory. If you use a less precise algorithm for an effect, HDRP processes the effect faster.

For example, you can define separate HDRP Assets for:

* Xbox One.
* Xbox One X.
* PlayStation 4.
* PlayStation 4 Pro.
* PC - Low.
* PC - Medium.
* PC - High.

## Using the HDRP Asset and Quality Settings in Unity

### The default HDRP Asset

To use HDRP, you need to create an HDRP Asset and assign it as the **Scriptable Render Pipeline** for your Project. To do this, see [Creating an HDRP Asset](HDRP-Asset.md). When you assign an HDRP Asset as the **Scriptable Render Pipeline**, it acts as the **default** HDRP Asset for your Project and contains all the default HDRP settings.

### Overriding settings for a quality level

To override HDRP settings for different hardware and computer processing ability, create an additional HDRP Asset to contain the overridden values.

To guarantee scalability, define a separate HDRP Asset for each console and an HDRP Asset for a low-end, average, and high-end computer.

![Quality Settings Panel](Images/QualitySettingsPanel.png)
A Quality Settings Panel with several quality level with an associated HDRP Asset

After you create an HDRP Asset, create a Quality Level for it. To do this:

1. Go to **Edit** > **Project Settings** > **Quality** and select **Add Quality Level**.
2. Select the new Quality Level and assign the HDRP Asset to its **Render Pipeline Asset** property.

The HDRP Asset that you assign to a Quality Level is the Quality Level's current HDRP Asset.

**Note**: You can use the same HDRP Asset for multiple Quality Levels. If you don't assign an HDRP Asset to a Quality Level, the Quality Level uses the **default** HDRP Asset as its **current** HDRP Asset.

### Editing Quality Levels

To edit the HDRP Asset for a Quality Level, go to **Edit** > **Project Settings** > **Quality** > **HDRP**.

At the top, there is a list of HDRP Assets that contains the default HDRP Asset and every HDRP Asset that you have assigned to a Quality Level.
To edit an HDRP Asset, select it from the list and use the settings that appear below.

![HDRP Quality Settings Panel](Images/HDRPQualitySettingsPanel.png)
The HDRP Quality settings panel allows you to edit values for specific HDRP Assets

## Using the current Quality settings parameters

Unity uses the settings defined in both the default HDRP Asset and in the Quality settings during the rendering.

### Predefined values for different Quality Levels

In a single frame, some elements can require differing resources. For example, a Spot Light closer to the Camera may have a greater shadow resolution than a Light further away.

For this kind of settings, you can either:

* Use a custom value to always use.
* Use a value from those defined in the current HDRP Asset.

For the example above, the shadow resolution of a Light can be either:
- A custom value that you set in the Inspector for the Light.
- One of the predefined values in the current Quality Level's HDRP Asset (either **Low**, **Medium**, **High**, **Ultra**).

### Material Quality Node in Shader Graph

You can use the Material Quality Node in Shader Graphs to decide which code to execute for a specific quality. The current quality level is in the **Material** section of the HDRP Asset.

It's important that, for a given quality level, all Materials have the same Material Quality Level applied. If you need to have a different shader quality in a single rendering (like a Shader LOD system), author a dedicated Shader and use a different Shader with the appropriate complexity for this rendering.

### Ray tracing Quality Keyword in Shader Graph

For Shader Graphs that use ray tracing, you can use the [Raytracing Quality Keyword](SGNode-Raytracing-Quality.md) to provide a fast implementation.

HDRP uses the fast implementation to increase the performance of ray-traced rendering features where accuracy is less important.