Unity Baking

 In Unity, baking refers to the process of precomputing and caching lighting information for a scene or game level. This information includes things like lightmaps, light probes, and reflection probes.

Baking lighting information can significantly improve the performance of a game or application by reducing the amount of real-time calculations needed to render lighting effects. This can result in smoother frame rates and more consistent visual quality across different hardware configurations.

To bake lighting in Unity, you can use the Lighting window, which provides a range of tools and options for configuring and optimizing the baking process. You can also use the Auto Generate feature to quickly generate basic lighting information for a scene or level.

Once you've baked lighting information, you can preview it in the Scene view, and then use it to enhance the visual quality of your game or application. For example, you can use light probes to create more accurate reflections or use lightmaps to simulate realistic shadows and light bouncing effects.

Overall, Unity baking is an important part of optimizing the performance and visual quality of your game or application, and understanding how to use the available tools and techniques is essential for creating compelling and immersive experiences.

In Unity, there are several types of baking available to precompute and cache lighting information for a scene or game level. Some of the common types of baking include:

Lightmap Baking: This involves precomputing the lighting information for static objects in a scene, such as walls, floors, and other static geometry. Lightmap baking can help create more realistic shadows and other lighting effects in a scene.

Reflection Probe Baking: Reflection probes are used to simulate reflective surfaces in a scene, such as mirrors, water, or other reflective surfaces. Reflection probe baking precomputes the information needed to generate realistic reflections in a scene.

Light Probe Baking: Light probes are used to capture lighting information in a scene and provide accurate lighting for dynamic objects in real-time. Light probe baking precomputes the information needed to generate accurate lighting for objects in a scene.

Navmesh Baking: Navmesh baking precomputes the information needed for pathfinding and navigation in a scene. This includes generating a mesh that represents the walkable areas of a level and determining the shortest paths between different areas.

Occlusion Culling Baking: Occlusion culling is used to optimize rendering by determining which objects in a scene are not visible to the camera and can be culled from rendering. Occlusion culling baking precomputes the occlusion data.

Lightmap baking is a process used in 3D computer graphics to create realistic lighting for a scene. It involves calculating and pre-rendering the lighting information for a scene, which is then stored in a texture known as a lightmap. The lightmap is then applied to the 3D models in the scene to create realistic lighting effects.

During the lightmap baking process, the scene is rendered from the perspective of a virtual camera, with light sources placed strategically to simulate realistic lighting. The renderer then calculates how light interacts with the objects in the scene, including shadows, reflections, and color bleeding. This information is then stored in the lightmap texture.

Once the lightmap is created, it can be applied to the 3D models in the scene. This allows the models to be rendered more quickly and efficiently, as the lighting information is pre-calculated and does not need to be calculated in real-time during rendering.

Lightmap baking is commonly used in 3D video games, as it allows for more realistic lighting while maintaining real-time performance. It is also used in architectural visualization and other applications where photorealistic lighting is important.

A reflection probe is a component in 3D computer graphics used to create realistic reflections in a scene. It works by capturing the surrounding environment and using that information to create reflections on reflective surfaces, such as water or metal.

Reflection probes are usually placed at key locations in a scene, such as near reflective surfaces or areas with complex lighting. They capture the surrounding environment as a cubemap, which is a 6-sided texture representing the scene from different angles. This cubemap is then used by the game engine or rendering software to calculate reflections on reflective surfaces.

The quality and accuracy of the reflections created by a reflection probe depend on the resolution of the cubemap, the position of the probe, and the materials and lighting in the scene. Higher resolution cubemaps and more strategically placed reflection probes can create more realistic and accurate reflections.

Reflection probes are commonly used in 3D video games and architectural visualization, as they allow for more realistic and immersive environments. They can also be used to create dynamic reflections that change based on the position of the camera or the movement of objects in the scene.

Light probe baking is a process used in 3D computer graphics to create realistic lighting for a scene. It involves calculating and pre-rendering the lighting information for a scene, which is then stored in a texture known as a light probe. The light probe is then used by the game engine or rendering software to create realistic lighting effects.

A light probe is similar to a reflection probe, but instead of capturing the surrounding environment for reflections, it captures the surrounding lighting information. It works by sampling the light in the surrounding environment at different points and storing that information in a texture. The light probe can then be used to create realistic lighting effects on objects in the scene.

During the light probe baking process, the scene is rendered from the perspective of a virtual camera, with light sources placed strategically to simulate realistic lighting. The renderer then calculates how light interacts with the objects in the scene, including shadows, reflections, and color bleeding. This information is then stored in the light probe texture.

Once the light probe is created, it can be applied to the 3D models in the scene. This allows the models to be rendered more quickly and efficiently, as the lighting information is pre-calculated and does not need to be calculated in real-time during rendering.

Light probe baking is commonly used in 3D video games and architectural visualization, as it allows for more realistic lighting while maintaining real-time performance. It is also used in other applications where photorealistic lighting is important.

Navmesh baking and occlusion baking are two techniques used in the Unity game engine to improve the performance and realism of 3D environments.

Navmesh baking involves generating a navigation mesh (or "navmesh") for a scene. This is a simplified 3D representation of the environment that allows AI-controlled characters to navigate around obstacles and find the shortest path to a destination. During navmesh baking, the game engine analyzes the scene geometry and generates the navmesh based on user-defined parameters, such as agent size and jump distance. This information is then used by the game engine to enable AI-controlled characters to navigate around the scene more efficiently.

Occlusion baking involves pre-computing the visibility information for a scene. This information is used to optimize rendering performance by determining which objects are visible to the camera and which are not. During occlusion baking, the game engine analyzes the scene geometry and calculates which parts of the environment are visible from each point in space. This information is then stored in a texture called an occlusion map. The game engine can then use the occlusion map to skip rendering of objects that are not visible, resulting in faster and more efficient rendering.

Both navmesh baking and occlusion baking are commonly used in 3D video games and architectural visualization, as they can significantly improve the performance and realism of the scene. These techniques can also be used together to further optimize rendering performance and enable more realistic AI-controlled characters.

For details, see this blog: https://bleedingedge.studio/blog/baking-in-unity-creating-sweet-and-savory-delights/