Light probes in Unity

Objective: Show you what a light probe is and what it can do

Light sources in Unity are a power hungry component that will end up making your game slow.

Light probe groups in Unity are a cost effective way to give a sense of illumination in a game scene without the costly overhead of multiple light sources.

The scene below has one light source but contains a light probe group that has many light probes. When these are baked and a dynamic object passes the light probes, the baked information is passed to the object.

Setting up the light probes in the group is a longer process that just creating another light source but the cost effectiveness of the game running smoothly, out ways the time cost to create the light probe group. This is especially effective if you’re planning on working with mobile devices.

To create a light probe group, right-click in the hierarchy -> Light -> light probe group.

You can now expand the light probe group and duplicate the probes and move them around in the areas that you’re wanting to provide baked lighting details to dynamic objects that move passed the probes in the game scene.

You can click edit light probes and you can select single or multiple probes by using ctrl. You can now move the probes around wherever you want and duplicate to your hearts content.

Once you have setup you light probes in the group, you now need to bake the lighting before it will appear in the scene of game view.

And that is what a light probe is for and how to use them in your game.

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