Lighting Mode

This section describes the effect of the Lighting Mode property in the Lighting window.

The Lighting Mode that you choose in the Lighting window determines the behavior of all Mixed Lights in the current Scene. The available modes are:

• Baked Indirect combines real-time direct lighting with baked indirect lighting. It provides real-time shadows. This Lighting Mode offers realistic lighting and reasonable shadow fidelity, and is suitable for mid-range hardware.
• ShadowmaskA Texture that shares the same UV layout and resolution with its corresponding lightmap. More info
  See in Glossary combines real-time direct lighting with baked indirect lighting. It enables baked shadows for distant GameObjectsThe fundamental object in Unity scenes, which can represent characters, props, scenery, cameras, waypoints, and more. A GameObject’s functionality is defined by the Components attached to it. More info
  See in Glossary, and blends them automatically with real-time shadows. It is the most realistic, but also the most resource-intensive Lighting Mode. You can use Quality Settings to configure its performance and visual fidelity. This Lighting Mode is suitable for high-end or mid-range hardware.
• Subtractive provides baked direct and indirect lighting. It renders direct real-time shadows for one Directional Light only. This Lighting Mode doesn’t provide particularly realistic lighting results, and is suitable for stylized art or low-end hardware.

Setting your Scene’s Lighting Mode

1. Open the Lighting window (menu: Window > RenderingThe process of drawing graphics to the screen (or to a render texture). By default, the main camera in Unity renders its view to the screen. More info
   See in Glossary > Lighting Settings).
2. Select the SceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info
   See in Glossary tab.
3. Navigate to Mixed Lighting.
4. Use the drop-down menu to set the Lighting Mode.