What problems does lighting setup solve?
A studio spends four hours per bake per scene. A UV seam artifact appears, the artist fixes it, and waits another four hours. This repeats three to five times daily across multiple scenes, wasting weeks. An incorrect lighting strategy from the start — all sources in Realtime — can cost 30–50% FPS on mobile or consoles at release. Our Expert Lighting and Rendering Setup Services address two core pain points: baking time and runtime performance. We audit the existing system, choose the right mix of dynamic lighting and baked methods, and deliver measurable gains. Over 30 projects delivered, from indie to AA. Certified Unity specialists guarantee the result.
Dynamic, static, and mixed lighting: how to choose?
Each light source in Unity has three modes. The table shows how they affect performance:
| Mode | Shadows | GPU Load | CPU Load | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Realtime | Dynamic | High | Medium | Characters, moving objects |
| Baked | Precomputed into texture | Minimal | None | Static decorations |
| Mixed | Hybrid | Medium | Low | Key sources with shadows |
A common mistake: a studio sets all lights to Realtime, resulting in 12 shadow-casting lights on screen. On mobile, that’s a guaranteed 30% FPS drop. Mixed Lighting with Subtractive or Shadowmask sub-modes is the practical compromise. Static objects get baked shadows, dynamic objects get realtime shadows from same sources — a balanced dynamic lighting mix.
Typical artifacts and their causes
| Artifact | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Light seams between objects | UV islands not aligned | Enable Stitch Seams or use Auto UV Charts with Pack Margin ≥ 4 |
| Dark spots at object bases | Collider intersection with floor | Raise object 0.01–0.05 units or adjust Backface Tolerance to 0.2 |
| Overbright at atlas seams | UV islands too close in atlas | Increase Pack Margin or assign large objects to separate atlases via Lightmap Parameters |
How to optimize baked lighting without losing quality?
Choosing between Enlighten and Progressive Lightmapper
Unity supports two baking backends. Enlighten is legacy real‑time GI — officially outdated but still used on mobile due to low system requirements. Progressive Lightmapper (GPU) is a modern path‑tracing backend. On an NVIDIA RTX card, GPU baking is 5–10x faster than CPU. We default to Progressive Lightmapper (GPU) for PC and consoles.
Key parameters for a typical scene:
Lightmap Resolution: 10–20 texels/unit
Max Bounces: 2–4 (not default 8)
Samples (Direct): 32–64
Samples (Indirect): 512–1024
Denoiser: OIDN or OptiX
Denoiser is mandatory. Without it, you need thousands of samples for clean results. With denoiser, 256–512 samples suffice. Iteration takes minutes, not hours. According to Unity documentation, this setup reduces baking time by 50–70% without quality loss.
Light Probes and Reflection Probes: why and how to set up?
Light Probes give dynamic objects the illusion of baked lighting. Place probes every 2–4 meters in areas with lighting variation. Too sparse placement causes sharp jumps when characters move. Probe Volumes (HDRP) replace manual placement with a volumetric grid — saves time on large open scenes.
Reflection Probes correct reflections on PBR materials. Without them, metal and mirrors reflect the skybox instead of the environment. Settings:
- Baked for static rooms
- Realtime for zones with changing environment (TV, screens)
- Box Projection for correct room geometry reflection
Applying these rules reduces draw calls for reflections by up to 40%.
What is the impact of scene organization on baking speed?
Scene scale is the main enemy of fast baking. Here’s the process we use:
- Exclude objects smaller than 0.5 units — they receive lighting via Light Probes.
- Use Instanced Meshes for repetitive objects (trees, rocks, fences) — one UV atlas shared.
- Bake Terrain separately at reduced resolution (2–5 texels/unit).
- Check Backface Tolerance on complex geometry — prevents dark spots.
Following these steps cuts total bake time by 50–70%. In one open‑world Unity project, original bake time was 4 hours per scene. After optimization: 1 hour 20 minutes. Monthly time savings exceeded 40 hours, equivalent to $3,000 monthly cost reduction.
What’s included in lighting setup work
Our turnkey service delivers:
- Audit of current system — profiling via Frame Debugger and RenderDoc, identifying bottlenecks.
- Lighting strategy — documentation with mode selection (Mixed/Baked/Realtime) for your platform.
- Baking optimization — UV unwrapping, Progressive Lightmapper configuration, Light Probes.
- Reflection Probes setup and post‑processing (SSAO, SSR, Bloom) matching your artistic style.
- Final report with performance metrics (FPS budget, draw calls, frame times).
- Post‑delivery support for two weeks — remote session to review any issues and transfer knowledge.
Work process and timeline
We follow a clear workflow:
- Analysis (1–2 days) — review scene, take screenshots, profile.
- Design (1 day) — select strategy, create optimization plan.
- Implementation (3–7 days depending on complexity) — UV fixes, Lightmapper settings, Light Probes, post‑processing.
- Testing (1–2 days) — measure performance, remove artifacts.
- Delivery — scene files, documentation, checklist.
Typical timeframe: 5 to 15 business days. Pricing is individual — contact us for a project estimate.
Get a free audit of your current lighting setup. Reach out to discuss your project — we will provide a concrete plan and timeline.