Forward rendering path in the Built-In Render Pipeline

The Forward rendering pathThe technique that a render pipeline uses to render graphics. Choosing a different rendering path affects how lighting and shading are calculated. Some rendering paths are more suited to different platforms and hardware than others. More info
See in Glossary renders each GameObjectThe 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 in one or more render passes, depending on the lights that affect the object.

Lights themselves are also treated differently by the Forward rendering path, depending on their settings and intensity. For more information, refer to Per-pixel and per-vertex lights.

Render passes

For each GameObject, Unity first renders the Base Pass, which renders the following:

• One per-pixel light that affects the GameObject.
• All the per-vertex and spherical harmonics (SH) lights that affect the GameObject.
• LightmapA pre-rendered texture that contains the effects of light sources on static objects in the scene. Lightmaps are overlaid on top of scene geometry to create the effect of lighting. More info
  See in Glossary data for the GameObject
• Ambient lighting
• Emissive lighting
• Shadows from directional lights

Note: Lightmapped objects don’t receive lighting from SH lights.

Unity then renders one Additional Pass for each per-pixel light that affects the GameObject. Unity doesn’t render shadows for these lights.

Additional resources

• Introduction to rendering paths
• Per-pixel and per-vertex lights