old verge
hey guys I just started unity and designed a map. When it's time to add lights I think they look super unrealistic. Like why the ceiling looks dark? Is there any way to making my lights look better? In some games I witnessed that emissioned textures are changing environment too how is that possible?
Other think to ask, how can I make my game look more realistic?
neat axle
In realtime rendering, the cheapest and fastest way to light an object is called "direct lighting". It simply rendering the objects with the light that directly hits them.
As you can see in your scene, the top spot light points downwards and only the objects it hits are lit.
If you wanted the ceiling to recieve lighting, it will need "bounced lights", through a technique called "global illumination". It can be achieved in Unity by using baked Lightmaps / Lightprobes / Probe volumes.
Refer to this section of the documentation.
There is this tutorial that can help you understand how to do better lighting in Unity, a bit out of date as it's for Built-In RP but most of the things can still apply.
You can also look for all the other lighting learning ressources here.
void hornet
Understanding all the lighting tools available to you is important
But specifically with realtime lights there's a lot you can do too
Particularly with light cookies
Instead of a spot light, you could have a point light with a 3D cookie that includes the spot angle (as well as shape with elongated light sources) but also lets some light through above, giving the impression of bounce lighting in the room
Similar in concept if you were to make another softer spot light facing up ward from below the light
Which is what I also sometimes do if light limits aren't a problem, and if only one of lights should have shadow casting
Here's a whole ebook showing what you can do with nothing but the help of light cookies
(It's geared for old HDRP and 3DS max as tools, but the concepts are the same regardless of engine)
You should be able to generate light cookies using the RenderToCubemap method, after you've "staged" the light's "shape" around a camera using lights, meshes or anything you need
old verge
In realtime rendering, the cheapest and fastest way to light an object is called...
I see, when I research about realtime gi, I have to create a lightprobe map right? It's kinda look hard to apply it to a cylinder hallway
void hornet
Why would it be harder for a cylinder than angular hallway
old verge
Can it be done automatically?
void hornet
With plugins
old verge
Oh that would be great
void hornet
You can duplicate probes within a light probe group and move many at once
So filling spaces with them is easy
Deleting them to not clip into obstacles is the harder part
But as always with lighting, do a small scale test scene first
Realtime GI and baked GI do a very particular thing in their own particular ways
old verge
yeah baked is unchangable and It is too bad for my scene
void hornet
It's easy to misunderstand their function and to make mistakes, which sucks when they take a while to generate
old verge
Allright thank you let me try something
void hornet
Realtime GI is also baked
old verge
is that so?
isn't realtime gi calculating mid-game?
so I can turn off lights
mid-game
void hornet
It's calculating direct and bounce lighting in realtime from dynamic light sources against static objects' pre-baked lightmaps
(and static light probe groups)
So lights can move, the environment cannot
Realtime GI is kind of a hybrid of dynamic and static lighting
Baked lighting on the other hand can mix in realtime direct light and shadows and shadows using Mixed mode, but while the lighting is dynamically calculated, the Mixed light sources are not allowed to move or turn off
That is what I mean by lighting system's functions being easy to misunderstand
They can be conceptually complex before you see them in action
old verge
It looks complicated, this is the biggest problem for me right now. What did you mean with environment cannot move? Like there is a realtime gi using room and when I open a door the lighting will get worse? What do you recommend to me what should I use?
void hornet
It looks complicated, this is the biggest problem for me right now. What did you...
In that case the door would not be included in Realtime GI calculations, so light cannot bounce off of it
Indirect light might also leak through it
But usually it's not noticeable at that scale
I don't know if Realtime GI can adapt to realtime shadow casting, for example if you have a whole ceiling that would get dynamically removed to let light shine into a room
Direct light would make it in, but not sure if it produces indirect light in that case
I can't make specific recommendations unless I know exactly what kind of lighting conditions you need
Tricky also because usually the lighting tech you have influences what lighting needs you choose
If you picked baked lighting only, for whatever reason such as performance, you wouldn't design any room with dynamic light sources
If you determine your light sources must all be dynamic, baked lighting is out of the question
old verge
I see, I think lighting is really important for a game so I should learn it from zero to top right? These things can changeable due to what I want to do so I have to learn every cases of lighting. Do you recommend any sources for learning it from basic to pro? Or is there even a lecture that shows you every lighting properties?
void hornet
I see, I think lighting is really important for a game so I should learn it from...
Remy's linked tutorial is pretty much that
old verge
Oh yeah I totally missed that :D
void hornet
I learned by reading the documentation and testing each feature first in a very simple setup, then adding complexity
Probably more efficient to have the tutorial tell you about that stuff first
Then you understand the choice better
But ultimately you have to practice at least the one lighting method you choose
old verge
Allright I will start and practice every method that I learn and choose the best one for me. Another question, is HDRP better than URP for more realistic scenes? And is there a way to make my game looks more realistic?
neat axle
HDRP is out of the box better suited to make realistic graphics.
But it is harder to master, and doesn't run on mobiles
void hornet
Allright I will start and practice every method that I learn and choose the best...
It gives tools to make more realistic graphics, like more complex lights and shaders, but it expects you to already have a decent idea how to use them
"Realism" in visuals mostly comes the meshes and textures but most of all the material properties, and understanding of lighting and post processing
No tool can do it automatically for you
And of course making something realistic or good looking are two different things, and two different skills