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When making a 2D game detailed control over the

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order in which items are rendered is a necessity.

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One way of doing this is by using the

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distance of the sprite from the camera.

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Unity however provides a much more

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powerful tool to do this,

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sorting layers.

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Sorting layers work with the sprite renderer

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to determine the rendering order of sprites

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regardless of their distance from the camera.

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A sprite, or group of sprites, can be

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assigned to a sorting layer.

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These sorting layers are given a sorting order.

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The items in the sorting layer are rendered

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regardless of distance to the camera

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based on this sorting order.

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It is worthwhile noting that the sprites

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must still be within the camera's frustum to be rendered.

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For even more control, individual sprites

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can be assigned an Order In Layer value

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to define the rendering order of sprites

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within a sorting layer.

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Sorting layers can be found in the

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Tags and Layers Settings panel.

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The tags and layers settings panel can be

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accessed in 2 ways.

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From the sprite renderer component select

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Sorting Layer - Add Sorting Layer.

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From anywhere within the editor select

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Edit - Project Settings - Tags And Layers.

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With the tags and layers panel open

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sorting layers can be added, deleted or rearranged.

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There will always be a default layer

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present in the sorting layers list.

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The default layer cannot be renamed or removed

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but it can be rearranged.

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To add a new sorting layer click the plus button.

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To rename a sorting layer select

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the Name field and enter a new name.

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To rearrange the order of a sorting layer

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click and drag the layer in to a new position.

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The sorting layers will render in

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list order from top to bottom

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with the first item drawn at the back

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and the last item drawn on top as the last layer.

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To assign a sprite to a sorting layer

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select the sprite to be assigned

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and in the sprite renderer component

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use the Sorting Layer drop-down list

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to choose a sorting layer.

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For detailed control over multiple

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sprites on the same sorting layer the

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Order In Layer value can be set.

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If, for example, multiple sprites

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are used to create a character

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all the sprites used to create that character

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could be assigned to one sorting layer.

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And then within that sorting layer

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Order In Layer can be used to determine

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the draw order of the sprites, creating the character.

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It is worth noting that sorting layers

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and Order In Layer are global and available

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to all renderers in Unity.

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Every renderer, including particle renderers

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can specify a sorting layer and use a

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Order In Layer value, even though only the sprite

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renderer exposes these properties in the inspector.

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To use sorting layers and Order In Layer with

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other renderers simply use a script

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to assign these values.

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It is possible to set the sorting layer

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by name or ID with renderer.sortingLayerName.

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Or renderer.sortingLayerID.

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To set the Order In Layer property use

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renderer.sortingOrder.

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For more information on renderers, tags and layers

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including sorting layers and the Order In Layer

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please see the information linked below.