Lights are an essential part of every scene. While meshes and textures define the shape and look of a scene, lights define the color and mood of your 3D environment. You’ll likely work with more than one light in each scene. Making them work together requires a little practice but the results can be quite amazing.
Lights can be added to your scene from the GameObject->Light menu. You will choose the light format that you want from the sub-menu that appears. Once a light has been added, you can manipulate it like any other GameObject. Additionally, you can add a Light Component to any selected GameObject by using Component->Rendering->Light.
There are many different options within the Light Component in the Inspector.
By simply changing the Color of a light, you can give a whole different mood to the scene.
Rendering paths
Unity supports different Rendering Paths. These paths affect mainly Lights and Shadows, so choosing the correct rendering path depending on your game requirements can improve your project’s performance.
For more info about rendering paths you can visit the Rendering paths section.
More information
For more information on how lights work see the Lighting Overview page. For more information about using the Light Component, check the Lighting Reference.
Did you find this page useful? Please give it a rating:
Is something described here not working as you expect it to? It might be a Known Issue. Please check with the Issue Tracker at issuetracker.unity3d.com.
Thanks for letting us know! This page has been marked for review based on your feedback.
If you have time, you can provide more information to help us fix the problem faster.
You've told us this page needs code samples. If you'd like to help us further, you could provide a code sample, or tell us about what kind of code sample you'd like to see:
You've told us there are code samples on this page which don't work. If you know how to fix it, or have something better we could use instead, please let us know:
You've told us there is information missing from this page. Please tell us more about what's missing:
You've told us there is incorrect information on this page. If you know what we should change to make it correct, please tell us:
You've told us this page has unclear or confusing information. Please tell us more about what you found unclear or confusing, or let us know how we could make it clearer:
You've told us there is a spelling or grammar error on this page. Please tell us what's wrong:
You've told us this page has a problem. Please tell us more about what's wrong:
Thanks for helping to make the Unity documentation better!