Baked Lighting
Baked lighting is a real-time graphics technique where lighting information is precomputed and stored in textures (lightmaps) or other data structures, rather than calculated dynamically at runtime. This process involves simulating light interactions (direct and indirect) in a 3D scene offline, then applying the results to static geometry to create realistic lighting effects with minimal performance cost. It is commonly used in game development and architectural visualization to achieve high-quality, consistent lighting for environments that do not change during gameplay.
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. 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. However, it is not suitable for scenes with moving light sources or dynamic objects that require real-time lighting updates.