Global Illumination Learning Resources

Recently I published a guide in the official Unity Global Illumination sub-forum with a list of learning resources. It is meant to guide Unity users on how to use GI tools that ship with the Unity editor. Original post can be accessed here.

Written Material

Documentation and Tutorials

• Lighting Overview – Unity Manual
• Setting up the Lighting Pipeline – Unity Manual
• Making believable visuals in Unity – Unity Learn
• Creative Core: Lighting – Unity Learn
• Introduction to Lighting and Rendering – Unity Learn
• Lighting optimization with Precomputed Realtime GI – Unity Learn
• The definitive guide to lighting in the High Definition Render Pipeline – Unity E-book

Unity Blog

• Static Lighting with Light Probes
• Lighting tips & tricks in the ADAM films
• Create high-quality light fixtures in Unity

Forum Posts

• Blocky artifacts appear when I bake a scene. How can I fix them?
• [2021.2] New Features in Lighting
• [2020.1] New Feature – Baked Light Cookies
• [2020.1] New Feature – Russian Roulette and Sampling Improvements
• [2020.1] New Feature – Lighting Settings Asset
• [2020.1] New Feature – Auto Pack Margin

Video Presentations

YouTube Channel

• How to build Lightmaps in Unity 2020.1 – Unity Tutorial
• Lighting & rendering tutorial for HDRP – Unite Now 2020
• Harnessing Light with URP and the GPU Lightmapper – Unite Now 2020
• Optimizing and Deploying Real-Time Ray Traced Global Illumination with RTXGI – Unite Copenhagen 2019
• Developing and optimizing a procedural game | The Elder Scrolls Blades – Unite Copenhagen 2019
• Progressive Lightmapper: An Introduction to Lightmapping in Unity – Unite Berlin 2018
• Bake it ’til you make it: An intro to Lightmaps – Unite Europe 2017
• Advanced Global Illumination in Unity 5 – Unite Boston 2015

GDC Talks

• Intel Open Image Denoise in Unity: Open Source Denoising for Lightmaps – GDC 2019
• Make It Shiny: Unity’s Progressive Lightmapper and Shader Graph – GDC 2018
• Lighting in Unity – GDC 2015

Unity Projects

Asset Store

• Viking Village – Progressive Lightmapper, URP
• Adventure – Sample Game – Progressive Lightmapper, Built-in RP
• Additive Loading Lighting Examples – Progressive Lightmapper & Enlighten Realtime GI, Built-in RP
• Shader Calibration Scene – Enlighten Realtime GI, Built-in RP
• Corridor Lighting Example – Enlighten Realtime GI, Built-in RP
• The Courtyard – Enlighten Realtime GI, Built-in RP
• Lighting Optimisation Tutorial – Enlighten Realtime GI, Built-in RP

GitHub Repositories

• Sponza – Progressive Lightmapper, HDRP
• Boat Attack – Progressive Lightmapper, URP
• Spaceship Demo – Progressive Lightmapper, HDRP
• Fontainebleau Demo – Progressive Lightmapper, HDRP
• The Alchemy Lab – Progressive Lightmapper, HDRP
• FPS Sample – Progressive Lightmapper, HDRP