Why are HDRP screen space reflections noisy?

SSR samples a small number of rays per pixel by default. Increase Ray Steps in the SSR override (32-64 for stills, less for fast-moving). Enable Denoiser in HDRP Asset to temporally filter.

Smoothness threshold matters?

SSR is noisier on rough surfaces. Set Minimum Smoothness so reflective-only surfaces (water, glass) get SSR; rough surfaces fall back to reflection probes.

Performance vs quality?

Quality preset Medium is acceptable for most scenes; Ultra doubles cost. Pair with denoiser; aggressive denoise + medium quality ~= no denoise + ultra at half the GPU time.

Fix: HDRP Screen Space Reflections Noisy

Quick answer: Volume → SSR override → Ray Steps 32+, enable Denoiser. Set Minimum Smoothness 0.85 to skip rough surfaces.

Mirror in scene shows reflections, but covered in fizzy temporal noise. Default SSR ray budget can’t resolve clean specular without denoiser help.

The Fix

Volume override: Screen Space Reflection
  Enable:                true
  Tracing:               Ray Marching
  Quality:               High
  Max Ray Steps:         64
  Minimum Smoothness:    0.85
  Smoothness Fade Start: 0.7
  Denoise:               true
  Denoiser Radius:       0.6

Min Smoothness skips rough surfaces (cuts noise floor); Denoiser temporally accumulates samples to clean what remains.

Verifying

Play. Mirror surface clean. Rough metal still uses probe-based reflections, no longer flickers. GPU time per SSR pass shows in HDRP Profiler.

“More rays, denoiser, smoothness floor. Reflections clean.”

Related Issues

For volumetric fog, see volumetric fog. For URP decal on skinned, see URP decal.

More rays. Denoise. Smooth threshold.