Match the variant to the renderer first, then to the visual style.
| Pipeline | Variant | Use on | When to use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in | Standard | SpriteRenderer | Default choice for normal sprites. |
| Built-in | Additive | SpriteRenderer | Glows, magic, fire, particles, light-only VFX. |
| Built-in | Multiply | SpriteRenderer | Darkening, decals, shadow-like overlays. |
| Built-in | Standard Premultiply | SpriteRenderer | Sprites exported with premultiplied alpha. |
| Built-in | Additive Soft | SpriteRenderer | Softer additive VFX with less blown-out edges. |
| Built-in | GUI | UI Image | Default UI Image variant. |
| Built-in | GUI Additive | UI Image | Glowing UI Images. |
| Built-in | GUI Premultiply | UI Image | Premultiplied alpha UI sprites. |
| Built-in | Screen Space Overlay | UI / Overlay | Use when a Built-in Canvas overlay needs the dedicated overlay path. |
| Built-in | 3D Lit | SpriteRenderer / Mesh | Sprites affected by Built-in scene lighting. |
| Built-in | 3D Lit Cutout | SpriteRenderer / Mesh | Lit sprites that need hard alpha and depth sorting. |
| URP | Standard URP | SpriteRenderer | Default unlit URP sprite. |
| URP | Additive URP | SpriteRenderer | URP glow and VFX sprites. |
| URP | Premultiply URP | SpriteRenderer | Premultiplied alpha in URP. |
| URP | GUI URP | UI Image | Default UI Image variant in URP. |
| URP | GUI Additive URP | UI Image | Glowing UI Images in URP. |
| URP | 2D Lit URP | SpriteRenderer | Use with URP 2D Renderer lights. |
| URP | 2D Lit Additive URP | SpriteRenderer | Additive sprites that still react to URP 2D lights. |
| URP | 3D Lit URP | SpriteRenderer / Mesh | Use in URP scenes with 3D lights. |
| URP | 3D Lit Cutout URP | SpriteRenderer / Mesh | URP lit sprites with hard alpha and depth. |
| URP | 3D Lit Additive URP | SpriteRenderer / Mesh | URP lit additive VFX. |
| HDRP | HDRP Unlit | SpriteRenderer / Mesh | Default HDRP sprite path. |
| HDRP | HDRP Additive | SpriteRenderer / Mesh | HDRP glow and VFX sprites. |
| HDRP | HDRP Lit | SpriteRenderer / Mesh | Sprites affected by HDRP lighting. No dedicated HDRP UI variant. |
Rule of thumb: SpriteRenderer uses Standard, Additive, Lit, or 2D Lit variants. UI Image uses GUI variants. HDRP has no dedicated GUI variant.