Unity displays different properties in the Light InspectorA Unity window that displays information about the currently selected GameObject, asset or project settings, allowing you to inspect and edit the values. More info
See in Glossary depending on the render pipelineA series of operations that take the contents of a Scene, and displays them on a screen. Unity lets you choose from pre-built render pipelines, or write your own. More info
See in Glossary that your Project uses.
Property: | Function: |
---|---|
Type | The current type of light. Possible values are Directional, Point, Spot and Area (Rectangle or Disc light). For information on these values, see Types of Light. |
Range | Define how far the light emitted from the center of the object travels (Point and Spot lights only). |
Spot Angle | Define the angle (in degrees) at the base of a spot light’s cone (Spot light only). |
Color | Use the color picker to set the color of the emitted light. |
Mode | Specify the Light ModeA Light property that defines the use of the Light. Can be set to Realtime, Baked and Mixed. More info See in Glossary. Possible modes are Realtime, Mixed and Baked. For information on these values, see Light Modes. |
Intensity | Set the brightness of the light. The default value for a Directional light is 0.5. The default value for a Point, Spot or Area (Rectangle or Disc)light is 1. |
Indirect Multiplier | Use this value to vary the intensity of indirect light. If you set Indirect Multiplier to a value lower than 1, the bounced light becomes dimmer with every bounce. A value higher than 1 makes light brighter with each bounce. This is useful, for example, when a dark surface in shadow (such as the interior of a cave) needs to be brighter to make detail visible. If you want to use Enlighten Realtime Global Illumination, but want to limit a single real-time Light so that it only emits direct light, set its Indirect Multiplier to 0. |
Property: | Function: |
---|---|
Shadow Type | Determine whether this Light casts Hard Shadows, Soft Shadows, or no shadows at all. Hard Shadows produces shadows with a sharp edge. Hard shadows aren’t realistic compared to Soft Shadows but they involve less processing, and are acceptable for many purposes. Soft shadows also tend to reduce the “blocky” aliasing effect from the shadow map. |
Baked Shadow Angle | If Mode is set to Baked or Mixed, Type is set to Directional, and Shadow Type is set to Soft Shadows, this property adds some artificial softening to the edges of shadows and gives them a more natural look. |
Baked Shadow Radius | If Mode is set to Baked or Mixed, Type is set to Point or Spot ,and Shadow Type is set to Soft Shadows, this property adds some artificial softening to the edges of shadows and gives them a more natural look. |
Realtime Shadows | These properties are available when Mode is set to Realtime or Mixed, and Shadow Type is set to Hard Shadows or Soft Shadows. Use these properties to control real-time shadow rendering settings. |
Strength | Use the slider to control how dark the shadows cast by this Light are, represented by a value between 0 and 1. This is set to 1 by default. |
Resolution | Control the rendered resolution of shadow maps. A higher resolution increases the fidelity of shadows, but requires more GPU time and memory usage. |
Bias | Use the slider to control the distance at which shadows are pushed away from the light, defined as a value between 0 and 2. This is useful for avoiding false self-shadowing artifacts. See Shadow troubleshooting for more information. This is set to 0.05 by default. |
Normal Bias | Use the slider to control distance at which the shadow casting surfaces are shrunk along the surface normal, defined as a value between 0 and 3. This is useful for avoiding false self-shadowing artifacts. See documentation on Shadow mapping and the bias property for more information. This is set to 0.4 by default. |
Near Plane | Use the slider to control the value for the near clip plane when rendering shadows, defined as a value between 0.1 and 10. This value is clamped to 0.1 units or 1% of the light’s Range property, whichever is lower. This is set to 0.2 by default. |
Property: | Function: |
---|---|
Cookie | Specify a Texture mask through which shadows are cast (for example, to create silhouettes, or patterned illumination for the Light). For more information, see Cookies. |
Draw Halo | Tick this box to draw a spherical HaloThe glowing light areas around light sources, used to give the impression of small dust particles in the air. More info See in Glossary of light with a diameter equal to the Range value. You can also use the Halo component to achieve this. Note that the Halo component is drawn in addition to the halo from the Light component, and that the Halo component’s Size parameter determines its radius, not its diameter. |
Flare | If you want to set a Flare to be rendered at the Light’s position, place an Asset in this field to be used as its source. |
Render Mode | Use this drop-down to set the rendering priority of the selected Light. This can affect lighting fidelity and performance. |
Auto | The rendering method is determined at run time, depending on the brightness of nearby lights and the current Quality settings. |
Important | The light is always rendered at per-pixel quality. Use Important mode only for the most noticeable visual effects (for example, the headlights of a player’s car). |
Not Important | The light is always rendered in a faster, vertex/object light mode. |
Culling MaskAllows you to include or omit objects to be rendered by a Camera, by Layer. See in Glossary |
Use this to selectively exclude groups of objects from being affected by the Light. For more information, see LayersLayers in Unity can be used to selectively opt groups of GameObjects in or out of certain processes or calculations. This includes camera rendering, lighting, physics collisions, or custom calculations in your own code. More info See in Glossary. |
If you create a Texture that contains an alpha channel and assign it to the Cookie variable of the light, the cookie is projected from the light. The cookie’s alpha mask modulates the light’s brightness, creating light and dark spots on surfaces. This is a great way to add complexity or atmosphere to a 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.
VertexLit shadersA program that runs on the GPU. More info
See in Glossary can’t display Cookies or Shadows.
Note that shadows are disabled for directional lights with cookies when forward renderingA rendering path that renders each object in one or more passes, depending on lights that affect the object. Lights themselves are also treated differently by Forward Rendering, depending on their settings and intensity. More info
See in Glossary is used. It’s possible to write custom shaders to enable shadows in this case; see documentation on writing surface shaders for further details.
Light
When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.
More information
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising. Some 3rd party video providers do not allow video views without targeting cookies. If you are experiencing difficulty viewing a video, you will need to set your cookie preferences for targeting to yes if you wish to view videos from these providers. Unity does not control this.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.