Lighting Efficiency: Why We Use Light Probes (Game Dev Day 48)
When setting up a scene, lighting can be critical to set mood or utilize a game’s mechanics. However, covering you levels in light sources is incredibly taxing on the system, and Unity offers a better alternative anyway with light probes!
Light probes allow you to light up your level without constantly generating data for the lights themselves. This entire map is lit by a single light source, but the probes covering the entire level allow us to spread that light data efficiently. This is not the same as using a giant light source, as that would not give us all the individual in game chandelier and display case lights. The probes use the baked in lighting of the models (and their placement) to create dynamic lighting at a fraction of the cost.
While it is possible to use multiple light sources when working with high grade hardware, games that function on a low end system (mobile, older PCs, older consoles) benefit greatly from clever utilization of probes. It allows a higher level of detail without the performance hit.
