Lighting in Unity

Name: Lighting in Unity
Rating: 4.5 (633 reviews)

Professional lighting for Built in renderer, URP and HDRP

Created byPete Jepson

Last updated 6/2025

English

What you'll learn

Lighting techniques for games
Baking lightmaps
Using light probe groups
Creating volumetric lights for HDRP
Post processing for that AAA look
Realistic lighting setups for your project

Course content

6 sections • 85 lectures • 12h 59m total length

Introduction2:14
Install Unity3:24
Setting up the scene9:02
Directional light10:58
Explore real-time lighting in Unity by using directional light to simulate the sun, observe how rotating shadows, skybox, and a procedural sun create day/night scenes, adjust intensity and color.
Sky settings10:41
Skybox challenge1:17
Ambient lighting7:58
Point light10:13
Spot light9:38
Cookies12:25
Halo7:23
Lens flares6:30
Lens Flares in Unity 60:29
Projectors17:57
Explore Unity projectors to simulate light with textures, project images onto surfaces, adjust materials and wrap modes, and optimize performance with orthographic projection and near/far clip planes.
Baked lighting24:58
Bake modes8:10
Bake map settings6:23
Adjust bake map settings in Unity to control direct and indirect samples, max bounces, ambient occlusion, and lightmap resolution for softer shadows and more realistic light bakes.
Baked area light8:47
Reflection probes8:34
Apply ground material, add a reflection probe, bake to create a cube texture map with reflectivity, and adjust smoothness and metallic settings.
Baking emission11:35
Light probes7:51
HDRI skies and realtime global illumination23:36
Explore using hdr skyboxes and real-time global illumination in unity, importing hdr textures and configuring skybox materials, with baked versus real-time lightmaps and reflection probes for dynamic scenes.
HDRI baking6:48
Post Processing17:33

Asset for demonstration0:16
Setting up color theory scene10:37
Monochromatic colors19:40
Explore monochromatic colors using a single hue, adjust lighting with key, fill, and back lights to shape shadows, and apply post-processing color grading to achieve a warm orange monochrome look.
Complementary colors11:00
Split complementary colors12:17
Learn how split complementary colors—purple, green, and yellow-green—shape mood and contrast in Unity lighting. Apply lighting positions, color grading, post-processing, and skybox tweaks to achieve balanced, dramatic scenes.
Triadic colors10:45
Tetradic colors13:34
Analogous colors7:44
Explore analogous colors by creating a harmonious palette along adjacent hues on the color wheel, using blues, greens, cyans, and subtle purples to craft a blue-dominant scene.
Color harmony task2:53

Install room project3:51
Install a ready-made lighting package into a new built-in pipeline scene and begin lighting a basic room, then explore future URP setups and credit Sketchfab props.
Color temperature9:24
Learn how color temperature affects Unity lighting from 1000k candle to 10000k blue sky, using rgb values for candle, tungsten, and fluorescent lights, and bake lighting with static objects.
Lightmap scale22:14
Setting up first light12:46
Pool table light10:00
Wall lights14:03
Table lamp9:14
Reflection probe4:30
Place a reflection probe in the room, resize its volume to cover walls, floor, and ceiling, then bake to capture accurate reflections on surfaces and glass.
Final bake test2:51
Post processing13:55
Fixing small issues6:20
Bake final lightmap5:42
Bake the final lightmap in Unity by disabling post processing, clearing bake data, and increasing lightmap resolution for higher quality maps and richer bounce lighting.
Final bake results3:01
Shows baked lightmaps to create rich lighting, evaluates post-processing on a first-person character, and compares screen space reflections with and without reflection probes for balanced illumination.

Create new URP project3:32
Taking a look at the scene6:12
URP quality settings9:05
Checking lightmap resolution17:00
Learn to configure baked lightmaps in Unity's URP by marking static objects, adjusting lightmap resolution, and baking with progressive GPU to optimize scene lighting.
Setting up the sky background10:26
Lighting the rocks7:01
Test bake for rocks2:30
Lighting for the bridge3:04
Lighting the darker areas7:37
Bright spots of light7:21
Lighting the fence9:29
Lighting the gravestones10:40
Lighting the house6:14
Post Processing7:22
Fixing the moonlight3:55
Final bake2:06
Bake results5:57
Bake results enhance light maps and texture detail. Adjust post processing, moon glow, water lighting, and exposure to achieve a richer, balanced scene.
Box volume post processing10:31
Learn to manage baked lighting and use a box volume to locally override global post-processing with a local mansion profile, adjusting blend distance and priority for seamless transitions.
Scene results1:09

Setting up the HDRP project8:33
HDRP settings8:39
Explore diffusion profiles and subsurface scattering in HDRP to add realism to thin objects like leaves, using thickness maps, alpha clipping, and automatic exposure.
Physically based sky12:55
Sun and fog16:30
Clouds8:51
Camera exposure6:09
Learn to control scene lighting in Unity by overriding automatic exposure with a global volume or a physical camera. Adjust aperture, ISO, and shutter speed to shape brightness and mood.
Sky challenge2:01
Creating a sunset25:43
Mid day sky9:33
Position the sun for a midday sky, adjust angular diameter and flare, and tune sky, aerosol, and fog for daylight lighting.
Camera settings10:18
HDRI sky15:22
Local fog15:21
Final scene lighting setup9:30
Perform final scene lighting in Unity by darkening the sky, refining clouds with exposure and HDR maps, and tuning local volumetric fog, shadows, and point lights for cinematic shafts.
Final post processing14:38
HDRP summary4:32
Explore hdrp lighting in unity, including sky types, fog and volumetric fog, local volumes, real-time lights and shadows, and exposure controls for outdoor and indoor scenes.
Course completion0:26

Requirements

An interest in game design
A high performance computer with a dedicated graphics card that can handle the HDRP pipeline in unity

Description

Welcome to Lighting in Unity where we are going to cover lighting theory for games created in the built in renderer, Universal render pipeline and the high definition render pipeline

We will start with lighting basics, covering color theory, lighting characters and objects, color harmonies for creating great game aesthetics, baking real time global illumination and baking static light maps and using lighting probes for dynamically moving objects

In the built in renderer we will be lighting an interior bar room scene, using available light sources such as windows and wall lights. We will be matching color temperatures to real world values to make the scene look authentic

In the Universal render pipeline we will be lighting a cartoony style horror environment using saturated colour mixes. This could be useful for mobile style games as well as games that feature hand painted stylized graphics

In the High definition render pipeline we will be lighting a realistic scene using different times of day and looking at using fog volumes for volumetric lighting to create impressive visuals for games. We will look in detail at post processing to create AAA visuals for games. HDRP is used for top game titles and so mastering lighting in this render pipeline can be very useful for making your games compete with other top titles

So why not enrol today and I look forward to seeing you in my course

Soundtrack by Alex-Productions from free stock music

Who this course is for:

Anyone wanting to master lighting for games
You want to make your games stand out from the crowd with impressive visuals

Lighting in Unity

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Lighting Basics24 lectures • 3hr 54min

Color Theory9 lectures • 1hr 29min

Lighting Techniques4 lectures • 38min

The Room - Built in Renderer13 lectures • 1hr 58min

Mansion - URP19 lectures • 2hr 11min

Forest - HDRP16 lectures • 2hr 49min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: