Does area light have a circular spread by default? Is there a way to control the spread like in Blender?
Here is a screenshot of how the spread is by default. ive increased the intensity a bit.
#AREA Light
honest sapphire
I believe every point on the surface of the light emits light in all directions, so no
Hdrp has more types of lighting, but might not be an option here
There may be some clever way to implement angle attenuation to the lightmapper, but I have no clue about that
Instead I'd try to fake it
If you make a box shaped tunnel from quads that are only present during the bake, and move your light way up to the far end of it, the pipe would basically funnel light into your desired shape as it would in real life
Perfectly black and rough material would prevent scattering of light near the end of the pipe
This only works when baking, but so do area lights in general
Another option is a spot light with a square light cookie
And it may be just as good if not better, and works in realtime, but it depends what you want exactly
tidal talon
so i learnt that i can use a square shaped cookie and apply it to a spot light
so i guess your idea using a cookie is the quick and easiest
honest sapphire
It's not accurate up close because the light is still a cone, and punctual for specular reflections
But in your case probably perfectly sufficient
jaunty ruin
What you are showing in your image is really not an area light, definitely a cookie (distant light through a window) effect
An area light would actually be more like a soft-box, and would not be directional like that
honest sapphire
The HDRP option mentioned would be a "box light"