Version: Unity 6.1 (6000.1)
Language : English
Introduction to lighting
Light sources

Lighting configuration workflow

To set up lighting in Unity, follow these steps:

  1. Choose a render pipeline
  2. Configure lighting
  3. Fine-tune your scene lighting

Choose a render pipeline

Unity provides render pipelinesA series of operations that take the contents of a Scene, and displays them on a screen. Unity lets you choose from pre-built render pipelines, or write your own. More info
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that differ in customization and lighting features:

For more information on render pipeline selection, refer to choose a render pipeline.

Configure lighting

  1. Choose baked GI, realtime GI, mixed baked and realtime GI, or opt for no GI.

    For more information, refer to Lighting Settings Asset Inspector window reference

  2. Choose one of the following Lighting Modes:

    • Baked Indirect
    • Subtractive
    • Shadowmask
    • Distance Shadowmask

    For more information, refer to Lighting Mode.

Fine-tune your scene lighting

To fine-tune your sceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info
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lighting, follow these tasks based on project requirements:

  1. Add baked, realtime, or mixed lights.

  2. Optionally configure emissive surfaces with Baked GI or Realtime GI.

  3. Add baked, realtime, or custom Reflection ProbesA rendering component that captures a spherical view of its surroundings in all directions, rather like a camera. The captured image is then stored as a Cubemap that can be used by objects with reflective materials. More info
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    .

  4. If a GI mode is set, add Light ProbesLight probes store information about how light passes through space in your scene. A collection of light probes arranged within a given space can improve lighting on moving objects and static LOD scenery within that space. More info
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    . You can also add Light Probe Proxy Volumes (LPPVs).

Additional resources

Introduction to lighting
Light sources