Brian Barton
Unity offers a wide range of lighting options to create diverse atmospheres and moods in game development. One such effect is light pollution, which can be achieved through a combination of lighting techniques and adjustments. By manipulating ambient light, area lights, and emission channels, developers can simulate light pollution to enhance the player's experience. This involves understanding the core of Unity's lighting system, including the various types of lights available and their unique behaviours, to create a realistic and immersive lighting environment.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To create light pollution in Unity |
| Lighting options | Various types of lights with different purposes and behaviors |
| Ambient light | Can be adjusted to create total darkness or increase overall brightness; doesn't come from a specific source object and contributes equal light in all directions |
| Area Light | Emits light within a defined shape and direction, perfect for simulating a lantern's glow or street lights; can be adjusted for range, width, height, intensity, and color |
| Shadow Type | Set to Soft Shadows to create realistic shadows and adjust the Baked Shadow Radius for a natural transition from light to dark |
| Emission | Can be added to a game object using the emission channel and emission maps |
| Lightmapping | Can be used to create dynamic lighting effects, such as a sunset, and control the light's range and intensity |
| Indirect lighting | Happens when light bounces off objects and casts light onto other objects, creating a ricochet effect |
| Lightmap Resolution | Affects the quality of lighting and shadows; a higher resolution provides better lighting quality and smoother transitions between lit and dark areas |
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What You'll Learn
Adjusting ambient light
Unity offers various types of lights, each with its own purpose and behaviour. Adjusting the ambient light is the first step towards achieving impenetrable darkness. This global illumination affects every corner of your scene and must be tamed to prevent unwanted visibility.
To adjust the ambient light, navigate to Window > Rendering > Lighting Settings. Here, you can set the lighting settings for your entire scene. First, look at the Environment Lighting and Environment Reflections, which are used to set the ambient light settings. The default setting for the source light is Skybox, which is the source of the ambient light, so the colours will look natural. Gradient is another ambient light source that uses a gradient to represent the colours of the three light sources: sky, air, and ground. This can create scenes with a strong impact. The third option is Color, which expresses ambient light in a single colour and can create a vivid impression.
After you create a skybox material, Unity can use it to generate ambient lighting in your scene. To do this, select the Environment tab and assign your chosen skybox to the Skybox Material property. Click the Source drop-down and, from the list, click Skybox. You can also specify when Unity updates the ambient lighting by changing the Ambient Mode. If you select Realtime, Unity will constantly regenerate ambient lighting for your scene, which is useful if you alter the skybox at runtime. If you select Baked, Unity will only generate ambient lighting when you click the Generate Lighting button at the bottom of the Lighting window. This is useful if your skybox does not change during runtime as it saves computational resources.
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Using emission channels and maps
Unity3D offers a variety of ways to add light to your scene. One such way is by using emission channels and emission maps on a game object.
Emission channels and emission maps are a great way to add light to your scene in Unity3D. Emission channels and maps can be used to make certain elements of your scene appear to glow. This can be achieved by setting up emissive objects. Firstly, you need to provide a colour for the emission. By changing this colour, the object will start to look like it's glowing.
To get started with emission channels and emission maps, you can use texture maps to create emission maps for existing game objects. You can use a texture map from a game object that you want to illuminate and alter it in Photoshop. To quickly select a filled area of multiple colours with a transparent area, press Ctrl + A to select all, then press one of the arrow keys to move the selection. Moving the selection back will reposition it to its starting position.
Emission channels and emission maps can be used to create light pollution in Unity3D. By adjusting the colour and intensity of the emission, you can create the effect of light pollution. You can also play around with the width and height of the emission to get the desired effect.
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Creating area light
Unity offers a range of lighting options to create diverse environments, and Area Lights are a valuable tool for game developers. They are used to simulate large, flat lighting fixtures, such as those found in office spaces, or long, narrow fixtures like LED strips.
To create an Area Light, go to GameObject > Light > Area Light. An Area Light is defined by either a rectangle or a disc in the scene, emitting light uniformly across its surface area but only from one side. This is useful for creating street lights or window lighting effects. The light diminishes as it gets farther away from the source, following the inverse square law, similar to real-world light behaviour.
When using Area Lights, they must be placed strategically within the scene, adjusting parameters such as size and intensity. While they contribute to the overall illumination of a specific region, Ambient Lights illuminate the entire scene. Both should be used appropriately to achieve the most realistic results.
It is important to note that Area Lights are restricted to Baked mode due to the complex mathematical calculations required for accurate light falloff. This precomputation improves performance during gameplay.
Additionally, to create a simple room for your lighting, go to GameObject > 3D Object > Cube, and adjust it to create walls. For the roof, create another cube and place it above the walls, leaving a gap for an interesting light effect. You can also add a floor by going to GameObject > 3D Object > Plane.
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Modifying light range and intensity
Unity offers a variety of lighting options to create the desired atmosphere in your game. To create light pollution, you can modify the range and intensity of lights in your scene.
Firstly, understand the core of Unity's lighting system. There are various types of lights, each with its own purpose and behaviour. For example, ambient light, also known as diffuse environmental light, is present throughout the scene and contributes to the overall brightness. To adjust ambient light, navigate to Window > Rendering > Lighting Settings and set the Environment Lighting Source to Colour. Change the Ambient Colour to your desired brightness level.
To create light pollution, you can increase the overall brightness of the scene by adjusting the ambient light settings. Play with the intensity of the light sources to create a polluted, overly bright environment.
Another way to modify light range and intensity is through the use of Area Lights. Area Lights emit light within a defined shape and direction, making them perfect for simulating light pollution. Adjust the Range to control how far the light travels, and modify the Width and Height to match the desired dimensions. Play with the Intensity to create a bright, polluted environment.
You can also use Point Lights to add lighting within a room or enhance the lighting within a spherical object. These lights can be moved around and rotated to shine light in a specific direction, allowing you to create a polluted lighting effect.
Additionally, consider using emissive objects to create light pollution. By changing the colour of an emissive object, you can make it appear as though it is glowing, contributing to the overall brightness and pollution of the scene.
Remember, when modifying light range and intensity, it is important to also consider the impact on shadows. Adjust the Shadow Type and Baked Shadow Radius to create a natural transition from light to dark and ensure your light casts realistic shadows.
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Setting up emissive objects
Firstly, you need to provide a colour for the emission. By changing this colour, the object will start to appear as if it's glowing. You can use the emission channel and emission maps on a game object to add light to your scene. You can also use texture maps to create emission maps for existing game objects.
Next, you can start to play with the intensity and colour of the light to create the desired effect. You can also adjust the range to control how far the light travels and modify the width and height to match the physical dimensions of the object.
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Frequently asked questions
Unity offers various types of lights, and you can use the emission channel and emission maps on a game object to add light to your scene. First, you need to provide a colour for the emission. You can also use ambient light, also known as diffuse environmental light, which is light that is present all around the scene. To adjust the ambient light, navigate to Window > Rendering > Lighting Settings. Set the Environment Lighting Source to Colour and change the Ambient Colour to the desired shade.
Use an Area Light, which emits light within a defined shape and direction. Adjust the Range to control how far the light travels and modify the Width and Height to match the light source's physical dimensions.
Use a Spot Light, which emits light in a cone format. You can modify the cone shape to increase or decrease its radius and range.
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