Unity 5.5 lighting problem gamma vs linear vs android

Unity Engine
1

Hello Unity folks,

I have a couple of issues with the lighting since I switched our project to 5.5. Here goes:

First problem: In Gamma Color Space, the static objects are much darker than realtime ones.
Reprosteps:
On a brand new project:

  • Create two cubes (normal 1x1x1), put them side-by-side for easier comparison.
  • Set one of the cube as Static.
  • Edit the light: set it as Baking: Mixed, and lower its Intensity to 0.75 to better show the problem
  • In the Window / Lighting / Scene tab, uncheck Precomputed Realtime GI, and uncheck “Auto”. Change General GI Directional Mode to “Non-Directional”, and click Build to build the lightmap
    At this point, the static cube is clearly much darker than the realtime one.
    2893096--212759--Capture1_WindowsGamma.JPG

Now go to Player Settings / Other Settings and change Color Space to Linear.
The realtime cube will darken and become almost 100% identical to the static lightmapped one.
This is a problem because on Mobile we want to remain on Gamma Color Space to support more devices.
(Side note: Building the lightmaps in between these tests is unnecessary since no change are being made to any light or objects)
2893096--212760--Capture2_WindowsLinear.JPG

Second problem: When Platform is set to Android, Gamma and Linear Color Space are both incorrect
Switch your Platform to Android in the Build Settings.
In Linear Color Space, you will see that the static lightmapped cube becomes much darker.
2893096--212761--Capture3_AndroidLinear.JPG
UPDATE: Since Unity 5.5.0p2 (Patch #2), ‘Linear’ is now almost perfectly accurate. However it is useless in my case since my device doesn’t support it.

Even more problematic, in Gamma Color Space: The realtime cube becomes way too bright, and the static cube becomes ridiculously darker.
2893096--212762--Capture3_AndroidGamma.JPG
UPDATE: Since Unity 5.5.0p2 (Patch #2), Gamma is a little bit less dark. It now looks like this:
2893096--212763--Capture5_AndroidGamma_patch2.JPG

Now things were even more inconsistent because when actually uploaded to an Android device (in my case, an old Nexus 7), the result were different again. I can’t demonstrate because I upgraded to 5.5 Patch 2 in the meantime and it seems to fix it.

2

I also waiting for this types of solutions…eagerly waiting for the help by the moderator or any expert.

3

A few things.

  1. Of course they are going to look different.

  2. Don’t use mixed. If you want to play with mixed stuff, I’d suggest trying out the 5.6 beta. Or

  3. Switch the light to realtime.