Global Illumination vs Baked Lighting

Developers should learn Global Illumination when working on projects requiring high-quality, realistic graphics, such as AAA video games, virtual reality experiences, or simulation software meets developers should use baked lighting when creating scenes with static geometry and lighting, such as indoor environments, pre-rendered backgrounds, or games where performance is critical and real-time lighting calculations are too expensive. Here's our take.

Global Illumination

Nice Pick

Developers should learn Global Illumination when working on projects requiring high-quality, realistic graphics, such as AAA video games, virtual reality experiences, or simulation software

Pros

• It is essential for achieving natural lighting effects that improve immersion and visual appeal, particularly in real-time rendering engines like Unreal Engine or Unity
• Related to: ray-tracing, real-time-rendering

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Baked Lighting

Developers should use baked lighting when creating scenes with static geometry and lighting, such as indoor environments, pre-rendered backgrounds, or games where performance is critical and real-time lighting calculations are too expensive

Pros

• It is ideal for achieving realistic global illumination, soft shadows, and ambient occlusion without the computational overhead of dynamic lighting, making it suitable for mobile games, VR applications, or projects targeting lower-end hardware
• Related to: global-illumination, lightmaps

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use Global Illumination if: You want it is essential for achieving natural lighting effects that improve immersion and visual appeal, particularly in real-time rendering engines like unreal engine or unity and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Baked Lighting if: You prioritize it is ideal for achieving realistic global illumination, soft shadows, and ambient occlusion without the computational overhead of dynamic lighting, making it suitable for mobile games, vr applications, or projects targeting lower-end hardware over what Global Illumination offers.

The Bottom Line

Global Illumination wins

Developers should learn Global Illumination when working on projects requiring high-quality, realistic graphics, such as AAA video games, virtual reality experiences, or simulation software