Distance Culling
Hide objects beyond a set distance
Also known as: Cull distance · Max draw distance · Cull Distance Volume · Draw distance · Per-object culling
Definition
Distance culling stops the engine from drawing objects beyond a set distance from the camera, because they are too small to matter. Small props, grass, debris and details can disappear much closer than large buildings. Unreal Engine provides a maximum draw distance on meshes and Cull Distance Volumes that set it by object size, and Unity has per-layer culling distances on the camera. It saves draw calls and triangles, at the cost of visible pop-in if the distance is too short.
In production
Set the distance by size, with small objects culled early and big landmarks never, and check that the transition is hidden by fog, a LOD or a fade. Test by moving through the scene at gameplay speed. Distance culling works with LODs, frustum culling and occlusion culling, which remove the objects behind or outside the view. In dense environments it is among the most effective savings.
Tools that use Distance Culling
See also
Frustum Culling
Skip what the camera can’t see
Occlusion Culling
Skip rendering hidden geometry
LOD
Level of Detail
HLOD
Merged proxy for distant groups of meshes
Draw Call
GPU rendering command
Height Fog
Fog that is denser near the ground
Particles Disappear When the Camera Turns
Effects vanish at the edge of the screen