How to achieve realistic Lighting for an Archviz type Project in Unity URP?

[gritty dock]

Hello, Im currently working on an Archviz type project in Unity 6 URP. The software is being made to run on an ipad. I have a question related to the lighting of a scene.
I have an indoor room scene with quite a few animated props. On clicking a UI button the camera faces a wall, an animation plays of the wall coming out and shows different layers inside of the wall and the props (Marked X in the photo attached) nearby the wall shrink to zero so that the user can focus on the wall layers.
The Lighting is supposed to be quite realistic for this, I tried using just baked lights at first which gave a good looking result but it will leave the baked shadow when i shrink the props, and if i mark them as not static, the lighting doesn't look very good.
What should I do?

[graceful geyser]

You can use Realtime GI with Enlighting. Although this feature is deprecated, it still works

It won't look as good as baked lighting, but better than nothing

[snow charm]

Enlighten realtime GI requires static light/shadow receivers, same as baked GI

[gritty dock]

This how it looks then. I must be missing some setting i think

[snow charm]

"Then" meaning what in this case?

[gritty dock]

After i switched on Realtime GI from the lightings tab and baked it this is what it gave me

[snow charm]

Since your room is dynamic, it isn't going to work
As I mentioned dynamic GI requires static geometry

The name can be a bit misleading

[gritty dock]

So i should mark everything to static??

[snow charm]

If you want to use Realtime GI, yes
If you want your room to change or move, no

You cannot really have both

Baked lightmaps may be sort of okay even if you do remove or place the walls back in, just that the lighting will be permanently painted on them

Additional systems for fading multiple different lightmaps in and out based on which objects are present are one option, but third party assets only and may take some doing to set up

Beyond that or similar workarounds you'd be looking at "true" realtime GI systems, which are expensive to render most of all and come with their own limitations

HDRP has ray tracing and path tracing

Without any real global illumination or ray tracing you may find ordinary realtime reflection probes, screen space ambient occlusion, screen space reflections and and screen space GI somewhat adequate

SSR and SSGI are by default HDRP only, but some have ported them or made similar systems for URP as well

[gritty dock]

Okayy got it! Thank you

[snow charm]

There just isn't a one-size-fits-all realtime GI solution that could even be conceived, which is why the available options are spotty and scattered

There's always some compromise the tech has to be built for, and the type of game / application heavily determines what compromise can be made

[gritty dock]

sounds fair

[snow charm]

Compromises like Unity's realtime GI being realtime only for light sources rather than geometry
Or why Unreal's Lumen is so slow to accumulate and doesn't interface well with other features like realtime reflections

In games like Teardown where the realtime GI works really well, it's because it was designed to take full advantage of the game's predictable and blocky geometry, which in turn applied constraints on what kind of assets and levels the game could have with the system

[alpine rain]

Should be noted that HDRP's path tracing isn't real-time

While modern iPads could definitely handle some form of ray traced GI, I think what you have is about as good as it currently gets in Unity.

[snow charm]

I missed the part about having to run on an ipad

Ray tracing and real dynamic GI systems in general aren't easy to get to perform well even on desktops

[regal field]

Some fully dynamic GI exist on the asset store, like : https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/particles-effects/adaptivegi-global-illumination-that-scales-to-any-platform-286731

Or, if you're brave enough, you can also try Unity Surface Cache GI, that is still very experimental and undocumented, by adding the "SURFACE_CACHE" define in the project settings.

[alpine rain]

Yeah, I haven't had good experience with any of those

Oh I see

[alpine rain]

If you don't need the lighting to change, but you need objects to change, maybe try adaptive probe volumes.

[snow charm]

APVs are also fully static
But at least they're attached to space rather than objects which may be an advantage
There's also lighting scenarios which should allow blending between multiple different bakes

[weary wagon]

You could also fake the shadows for the dynamic objects with decal/blob shadow projectors.

[gritty dock]

Hmm i could try that