Screen Space Reflection (SSR)
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Summary
Screen Space Reflection (SSR) is a rendering technique that uses the depth and color buffer of the screen to calculate reflections.
Intended Outcome/Use Case
SSR is an alternative technique to Cubemaps and Reflection Probes to render reflection details of a Scene. Accounting for reflections in a scene improves the quality and accuracy of physical-based rendering significantly. Depending on the Scene setup and target platform, SSR can provide a more performant real-time reflection solution than Cubemaps or Reflection Probes. SSR calculates reflection contribution only for visible surfaces on the screen. It does not require the cost of upfront setup and rendering of Scene objects from multiple angles for each Cubemap or Probe in the scene.
Additionally, the SSR technique works better with different shapes of surfaces and provides better accuracy of self-reflection. However, SSR comes with its limitations and artifacts. SSR uses the screen space details to provide reflection details. It cannot account for objects that are not visible within the current rendered frame (e.g., objects obstructed from the view or things behind the Camera)