Lights

[MathewHI]

How can I see lights in Unity? I can put a light point or area on headlight for example but I never really see the light just its reflection on surfaces. If the light is placed inside the bulb the bulb still appears to be dark and the light is never really seen emanating from it but rather just reflects of top of things.

[UnityLighting]

HDRP Quick Start Guide For Beginners Unity 2020 LTS

HDRP Lighting Complete Guide

HDRP Basics

Hi I Want to share the basics of the HDRP settings tutorials and tips here The main purpose is the workflow to comes from Built-in pipeline to the HDRP I will update the topic Built-In <=> HDRP [spoiler] Here you can see the built-in options inside HDRP: [7089088--844135--Untitled.jpg] [7089088--844141--Untitled213.png] [/spoiler] HDRP Default Profile [spoiler] Here you can find the default HDRP volume profile that applied to your all scenes: Menu : Edit->Project Settings ->…

[MathewHI]

@aliyeredon2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ5XnjzFkH0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qrfop6Bjik

https://discussions.unity.com/t/838833

Thanks but those videos are showing the exact problem I described. You don’t actually see the light emanating, you only see it when it hits a surface. You know how if someone shines a flashlight right at you, you can see the origin of the light and actually see physical beams coming at you. In Unity that doesn’t exist, you only see light on top of a surface.

[UnityLighting]

Send a example image

[MathewHI]

@aliyeredon2

Send a example image

See this forklift, it has an area light coming from the the headlight on its frame. You can’t actually see the light, you only see light on top of surrounding surfaces. I need to see a bright light at the source.

[MathewHI]

@MathewHI

See this forklift, it has an area light coming from the the headlight on its frame. You can’t actually see the light, you only see light on top of surrounding surfaces. I need to see a bright light at the source.

[UnityLighting]

I think you want the volumetric lighting
at 3:27 of below video you can find the volumetric lighting setup:

HDRP Lighting Complete Guide

[Reanimate_L]

i’m confused with the question, are you asking about light gizmos? volumetric light? lens flare? or an emissive mesh / the light source renderer?

[HIBIKI_entertainment]

@MathewHI

How can I see lights in Unity? I can put a light point or area on headlight for example but I never really see the light just its reflection on surfaces. If the light is placed inside the bulb the bulb still appears to be dark and the light is never really seen emanating from it but rather just reflects of top of things.

In some lights, you want to turn on the ‘Reflector’ some lights and engine versions it’s on by default.

This means you’ll see the “beam” itself too, affecting things like Volumetrics.

Pierre covers this very well in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqCHiZrgKzs

In answer to your part about bulb being black, you have a few options but the most likely solution is adding an emission map to the bulbs material, this allows the material itself to glow, and you can use light layers to control this further ( also check the 2020.3 demo scene if you need reference)

You also must be aware, if you’re using physically based lighting numbers, you won’t see something like an EV 7 emission in a 100,000lux /EV 13.5 scene.

Something like magic particle emissions you would have to fake (just a little) to get the desired effect. Just always be aware of it.

[chap-unity]

@HIBIKI_entertainment

In some lights, you want to turn on the ‘Reflector’ some lights and engine versions it’s on by default.

This means you’ll see the “beam” itself too, affecting things like Volumetrics.

No. Reflector in the spotlight means that HDRP simulates a physically correct light intensity, meaning that the visual intensity of the light will change according the spot outer angles. It has nothing to do with volumetrics directly.

if what you mean by “seeing” the light is the beam:
Like in the real world, to “see” the light beam, you need something for light to bounce. That’s why you can see those only when there’s smoke / fog / particles… you name it. This effect can be simulated using a volumetric fog override and Volumetrics enable for your lights. Note however, that area light are more complicated to compute than standard directional lights or punctal lights (spot, point) so volumetrics for area light is not supported.

Finally, if what you mean is seeing the source of light, what you need is put an emissive object to represent the light source. You can do that by yourself or, for area lights, you can check this option that will allow you to see the emissive quad at the dimensions set in your area light (like if it was a neon or a skylight).

[MathewHI]

@chap-unity

No. Reflector in the spotlight means that HDRP simulates a physically correct light intensity, meaning that the visual intensity of the light will change according the spot outer angles. It has nothing to do with volumetrics directly.

if what you mean by “seeing” the light is the beam:
Like in the real world, to “see” the light beam, you need something for light to bounce. That’s why you can see those only when there’s smoke / fog / particles… you name it. This effect can be simulated using a volumetric fog override and Volumetrics enable for your lights. Note however, that area light are more complicated to compute than standard directional lights or punctal lights (spot, point) so volumetrics for area light is not supported.

Finally, if what you mean is seeing the source of light, what you need is put an emissive object to represent the light source. You can do that by yourself or, for area lights, you can check this option that will allow you to see the emissive quad at the dimensions set in your area light (like if it was a neon or a skylight).

@chap-unity

No. Reflector in the spotlight means that HDRP simulates a physically correct light intensity, meaning that the visual intensity of the light will change according the spot outer angles. It has nothing to do with volumetrics directly.

if what you mean by “seeing” the light is the beam:
Like in the real world, to “see” the light beam, you need something for light to bounce. That’s why you can see those only when there’s smoke / fog / particles… you name it. This effect can be simulated using a volumetric fog override and Volumetrics enable for your lights. Note however, that area light are more complicated to compute than standard directional lights or punctal lights (spot, point) so volumetrics for area light is not supported.

Finally, if what you mean is seeing the source of light, what you need is put an emissive object to represent the light source. You can do that by yourself or, for area lights, you can check this option that will allow you to see the emissive quad at the dimensions set in your area light (like if it was a neon or a skylight).

Thank you I never noticed that option

[MathewHI]

@chap-unity

No. Reflector in the spotlight means that HDRP simulates a physically correct light intensity, meaning that the visual intensity of the light will change according the spot outer angles. It has nothing to do with volumetrics directly.

if what you mean by “seeing” the light is the beam:
Like in the real world, to “see” the light beam, you need something for light to bounce. That’s why you can see those only when there’s smoke / fog / particles… you name it. This effect can be simulated using a volumetric fog override and Volumetrics enable for your lights. Note however, that area light are more complicated to compute than standard directional lights or punctal lights (spot, point) so volumetrics for area light is not supported.

Finally, if what you mean is seeing the source of light, what you need is put an emissive object to represent the light source. You can do that by yourself or, for area lights, you can check this option that will allow you to see the emissive quad at the dimensions set in your area light (like if it was a neon or a skylight).

Actually I don’t have the “Display Emissive Mesh” option. How do I get that?

[chap-unity]

@MathewHI

Actually I don’t have the “Display Emissive Mesh” option. How do I get that?

It’s an additional property. (read: advanced). If you want to see all of them, click on the ellipsis button on your component (the three vertical dots) and you should be able to see something like “show additional properties” depending on the HDRP version you’re using.

[MathewHI]

@chap-unity

It’s an additional property. (read: advanced). If you want to see all of them, click on the ellipsis button on your component (the three vertical dots) and you should be able to see something like “show additional properties” depending on the HDRP version you’re using.

Hey sorry for not responding earlier my computer was getting repaired for a week so I couldn’t work on my project. The Show All Additional Properties must be a brand new option because I don’t have it. I’m using 2021.1

[Matjio]

Additional properties were a little wheel until 21.1 and now in the component menu (for UX coherency reasons). They can also be shown or hidden by default in the Preferences:
https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@12.0/manual/More-Options.html

To sum up about seeing lights:
You can use material emission for that.
On a light bulb geometry you could set the wire material to emissive.
On area lights there is an option to automatically generate an “emissive mesh”.
For the directional light you have celestial body options to choose how your sun or moon look like.
https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@13.0/manual/Light-Component.html

[MathewHI]

@Matjio

Additional properties were a little wheel until 21.1 and now in the component menu (for UX coherency reasons). They can also be shown or hidden by default in the Preferences:
https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@12.0/manual/More-Options.html

To sum up about seeing lights:
You can use material emission for that.
On a light bulb geometry you could set the wire material to emissive.
On area lights there is an option to automatically generate an “emissive mesh”.
For the directional light you have celestial body options to choose how your sun or moon look like.
https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@13.0/manual/Light-Component.html

Thanks for the answer but unfortunately again I don’t have the option. I followed the manual you linked and it states
Edit → Preferences → Core Render Pipeline
I don’t have the option of a Core Render Pipeline its not there.
Unity editor changes too drastically and frequently