bevy-rendering

Bevy 0.19 — rendering choices

Start with Bevy's built-in wgpu renderer unless a measured constraint requires a custom path. Renderer replacement changes asset preparation, visibility, cameras, materials, platform integration, and debugging—not just one plugin.

First classify the need

Need	Path
Ordinary 2D/3D game, editor, or visualization	Built-in `2d` / `3d` profile
Custom shaders or a special pass	Extend built-in rendering
Many dynamic lights on desktop-class GPUs	Consider deferred opaque rendering
Server simulation with no pixels	Headless `MinimalPlugins` profile
Existing proprietary/embedded renderer	`2d_api` / `3d_api` plus an explicit bridge
Physics, collision, character motion	`bevy-physics`; this does not select a renderer

Do not replace the renderer because a physics crate is present. bevy_rapier3d computes rigid-body simulation and queries. Its optional debug drawing uses Bevy rendering, but Rapier is not a renderer.

Built-in renderer

[dependencies]
bevy = { version = "0.19", default-features = false, features = ["3d", "ui"] }

use bevy::prelude::*;

fn main() {
    App::new()
        .add_plugins(DefaultPlugins)
        .add_systems(Startup, setup)
        .run();
}

fn setup(
    mut commands: Commands,
    mut meshes: ResMut<Assets<Mesh>>,
    mut materials: ResMut<Assets<StandardMaterial>>,
) {
    commands.spawn((
        Mesh3d(meshes.add(Cuboid::new(1.0, 1.0, 1.0))),
        MeshMaterial3d(materials.add(Color::srgb(0.3, 0.7, 0.9))),
    ));
    commands.spawn((
        Camera3d::default(),
        Transform::from_xyz(0.0, 2.0, 4.0).looking_at(Vec3::ZERO, Vec3::Y),
    ));
    commands.spawn(DirectionalLight::default());
}

3d is a complete profile. 3d_bevy_render is the lower-level collection that selects Bevy's renderer; 3d_api supplies world-side 3D types without a renderer. Profiles only trim dependencies when default-features = false.

Forward versus deferred

Forward is the default opaque method. Prefer it for broad platform coverage, MSAA, lower bandwidth, fewer lights, and material flexibility. Deferred moves opaque material data into a G-buffer and can reduce repeated geometry work with many lights, but uses more bandwidth and does not support MSAA.

use bevy::{
    core_pipeline::prepass::{DeferredPrepass, DepthPrepass},
    pbr::DefaultOpaqueRendererMethod,
    prelude::*,
};

fn enable_deferred(app: &mut App) {
    app.insert_resource(DefaultOpaqueRendererMethod::deferred());
}

fn spawn_deferred_camera(mut commands: Commands) {
    commands.spawn((
        Camera3d::default(),
        Msaa::Off,
        DepthPrepass,
        DeferredPrepass,
    ));
}

This choice applies to opaque rendering. Transparent materials still need their appropriate forward/transparent path. Benchmark representative content on minimum spec hardware rather than selecting from light count alone.

Extend before replacing

Use these escalation levels:

StandardMaterial properties and camera/post-process components.
Material, Material2d, or MaterialExtension for shader specialization.
A render-world extraction/prepare/queue pipeline.
A Bevy 0.19 render system in Core2d / Core3d for a custom pass.
A fully external renderer only when the earlier levels cannot meet the constraint.

Camera ViewNode/render-graph-node APIs were removed in 0.19. Render passes are systems using ViewQuery and RenderContext, ordered against actual system functions or Core3dSystems/Core2dSystems sets. The top-level schedule named bevy::render::renderer::RenderGraph remains for non-camera work.

Headless or external rendering

# Simulation/server: no render stack.
bevy = { version = "0.19", default-features = false, features = [
  "default_app", "multi_threaded", "serialize"
] }

# External renderer that consumes Bevy's world-side 3D types.
# bevy = { version = "0.19", default-features = false, features = [
#   "default_app", "3d_api"
# ] }

An external bridge must define ownership and synchronization for transforms, meshes, materials, cameras, visibility, asset lifetime, GPU uploads, window/surface events, and frame pacing. Keep renderer-specific handles in dedicated components; do not leak them into gameplay components.

Rapier integration boundary

For Bevy 0.19, bevy_rapier3d 0.36 is the matching release line. Rapier defaults to PostUpdate with a variable timestep; tick-coupled games may explicitly move it to FixedUpdate. Drive a visible entity and collider from one authoritative transform policy, and keep display-only smoothing separate. See bevy-physics and the physics boundary.

Audit and references

Run python3 scripts/audit_renderer_features.py path/to/Cargo.toml to catch common profile and Rapier/debug-render mismatches.