Area Light in Unity
Notes:
Area Light ( Baked Only ) in Unity:
5. Area light (backed only)
- It emits light in a specified direction, in a rectangular shape.
- It affects the scene only when we generate light maps i.e. we bake the light.
Real time Light:
- Light whose lighting effect is computed and updated on each frame at run time
- Is used for illuminating movable objects (dynamic)
- Ex: Objects which we may move i.e. player, vehicles etc.
Baked Light:
- Light whose lighting effect is pre-computed before run time
- Is used for illuminating immovable objects (static)
- Effects of light is pre-computed for immovable objects and written on textures, then the resultant textures (light maps) are overlaid on immovable objects.
- Ex: Objects which we never move i.e. ground, walls, buildings, trees, etc.
Creating area light:
- GameObject Menu - Light - Area light (Backed only)
Steps to generate light maps:
- Select game objects which must be affected by Area light - Check Static checkbox
Note:
- To bake lights or generate light maps, scene must be saved
- Window Menu – Lighting - Settings - Scene Tab - Uncheck Auto Generate checkbox - Click on Generate button
Note:
- Baking lights is usually the last step in game production; it is done to increase the performance by reducing number of unnecessary lighting calculations on each frame at runtime
- Unity does not modify the original textures, it just generates light maps which are overlaid on top of original textures.
