Make Shader Emit Light?

Unity Engine
1

Is it possible to use the shader graph to create a shader that emits light?

I do not mean make the shader glow with HDRP + Bloom, I mean literally emit light similar to a Point Light.

Thanks!

2

Yes, but also no.

Any material with an emission output can emit light. But only if:

  • You have baked lighting enabled for the scene.
  • The material is used on a Mesh Renderer component.
  • The Game Object the Mesh Renderer is on is set to Static.
  • The objects being lit by that material are also mesh renderers on static game objects. Or you’ve placed a liberal number of light probes in the scene.

Dynamic objects cannot emit light onto other meshes via their material alone.

1 Like
3

Thank you for the response, that’s too bad. I will use just use an actual point light then.

4

There is one other option with the HDRP. There’s screen space global illumination. I’ve not tried HDRP’s implementation, but usually that will cause emissive materials to emit light even from dynamic objects. However it does need to be visible on screen.