Hi again! After concentrating on learning modeling and then retopologizing to an efficient and practical level, I’m now ready to tackle on level design to a deeper level. I just have a few questions though that may affect the general performance:
Does having multiple light sources in a level cause more stress for the computer?
Let’s say that the idea for a level I have is very simple, as in I don’t need the “sun” to move around, there are no day and night cycles. It’s just a simple level designed for day time or maybe it’s just a simple level set inside a closed building where light comes from lamps or fluorescent tubes. Is there a way to “pre-render” the area so that even without light sources, the place will seem all lit up?
I’m thinking my questions have something to do with “Lightmap Baking” but I haven’t really tried that before. Can someone please tell me how this is usually done and maybe add a few practical tips to level designing?
Yes, if you use realtime lights. Not as much if you are using deferred rendering, but then you take a big hit for deferred rendering to begin with.
Yes. This is lightmapping, like you surmise. you do this by opening the lightmapping window, and baking the scene. There is almost no performance hit, and it really makes a difference. Place lights where the light sources would be, adjust the radius, and then bake the scene. Adjust as needed. Here’s the lightmapping quickstart:
