OpenXR Stereo Layers Overview

Send textures to the HMD in a separate rendering pass from the rest of the project, to display without any post-processing effects.

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Stereo Layer Types
Layer Shape
Layer Draw Order
Stereo Layer Properties

OpenXR Stereo Layers send a separate texture to the head-mounted display (HMD) and re-project the texture in a separate rendering pass than the rest of the project. This can be useful for user interface (UI) elements that you want attached to the HMD without additional effects applied to them, such as post-processing or anti-aliasing.

Stereo Layers are rendered to the HMD, but they do not appear in the VR Preview window on your desktop.

This page is an overview of the OpenXR Stereo Layers feature. To learn how to add Stereo Layers to your OpenXR app, see the OpenXR Stereo Layers Quick Start .

Stereo Layer Types

You can set which space the Stereo Layer's position and rotation are relative to. The following are the available types:

Face-Locked : The Stereo Layer stays in the same place in the HMD view, regardless of its position or rotation.
Tracker-Locked : The Stereo Layer position is relative to the real-world tracking space around the player.
World-Locked : The Stereo Layer position is relative to the virtual world space and the object to which it's attached as a Component.

Mixing Face-Locked layer priorities with World-Locked and Tracker-Locked layers by setting the vr.StereoLayers.bMixLayerPriorities console variable is not supported.

Layer Shape

You can set the shape of the layer. Currently, only the Quad layer shape is supported in the OpenXR implementation of Stereo Layers.

Layer Draw Order

Stereo Layers exist outside the virtual world and are drawn based on the Priority setting for each layer. The draw order is determined by the following:

Layers with higher priority are rendered on top of layers with lower priority.
Face-Locked layers are rendered on top of World-Locked or Tracker-Locked layers regardless of priority.
When multiple layers have the same priority, those layers are rendered in no-specified order. Use different priorities if you need a specific ordering for the layers.

Stereo Layer Properties

Stereo Layers have some properties that affect the way in which it is rendered. The following table describes each one of these settings and its effect on the Stereo Layers.


Setting Name	Description
Live Texture	True, if the Stereo Layer texture needs to update itself every frame (scene capture, video, and so on).
Supports Depth	True, if the Stereo Layer needs to support depth intersections with the scene geometry, if available on the platform. This option is currently not supported by OpenXR.
No Alpha Channel	True, if the texture should not use its own alpha channel (1.0 will be substituted).
Texture	Texture displayed on the Stereo Layer (if stereoscopic textures are supported on the platform, and more than one texture is provided, this will be the right eye).
Quad Preserve Texture Ratio	True, if the quad should internally set its Y value based on the set texture's dimensions.
Stereo Layer Type	Specifies how and where the quad is rendered to the screen.
Stereo Layer Shape	Specifies the shape of the layer. Only the Quad layer shape is supported in OpenXR.
Priority	Render priority among all Stereo Layers; higher priority render on top of lower priority.
Left Texture	Texture displayed on the Stereo Layer for the left eye, if stereoscopic textures are supported on the platform.
Quad Size	Size of the rendered Stereo Layer quad.
UVRect	UV coordinates mapped to the quad face.
Cylinder Radius	Radial size of the rendered Stereo Layer cylinder.
Cylinder Overly Arc	Arc angle for the Stereo Layer cylinder.
Cylinder Height	Height of the Stereo Layer cylinder.