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Render Offset

A visual-only translation applied to this element after the layout pass writes its position. Does not affect Hug/Fill sizing, sibling positions, or any layout calculation. Equivalent to CSS transform: translate(x, y). In the Inspector it’s two compact fields (X, Y) just under Margin.

The Render Offset row highlighted in the Inspector's Size & Position section.
Render Offset

Render Offset

A visual-only translation applied after the layout pass - for shake, hover, and bounce animations that don't reflow siblings.

Set Render Offset X and Y (e.g. 0, -4).

When to use it

  • Shake / wobble / bounce animations driven by an Animator or tween - the element jitters visually but every sibling stays put.
  • Hover lift - animate RenderOffset.y from 0 to -4 on pointer-enter for a “lifts off the page” feel.
  • Per-frame procedural nudges - small offsets you don’t want round-tripping through the layout engine.

How it behaves

  • Layout-space Y - positive Y is down, matching every other position field on AutoLayout. The setter handles Unity’s Y-flip for you.
  • No dirty propagation - writing RenderOffset never invalidates the layout. Cheap to animate at 60 FPS.
  • Survives reflow - when the layout does rebuild (because some other property changed), the applier re-incorporates the current offset, so an animated value isn’t snapped back to zero.
  • Animator-friendly - set up an AutoLayoutTweenRenderOffset clip and the transitions system will route the change through your tween provider.

When not to use it

  • Don’t use it to position an element relative to its parent - that’s what Margin, Absolute Position, or sibling Gap are for. Render Offset is a delta on top of the resolved layout position, not the position itself.
  • Don’t use it to make space for another sibling - siblings don’t see it.
  • Tweening - the imperative one-shot animations API; includes AutoLayoutTweenRenderOffset
  • Transitions - declarative animations; TransitionTarget.RenderOffset routes value changes through the tween provider
  • Margin - when you do want siblings to react to the offset
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