Lightmaps

Many 3D game engines support lightmaps.

The effect of direct illumination and ambient light on individual objects can be expressed using lightmaps as textures.

A mapping pattern, image, vertex color, and other baked mapping can be used as a lightmap.

Direct illumination and ambient light do not require rendering, reducing rendering time.

Basic	Standard	Professional
O	O	O

Differences from Previous Versions of Shade

In the Surface Window, Lightmap has been added to Mapping Type under the Mapping settings.

Usage

Select a polygon mesh with a texture to use as a lightmap.

• In the Surface Window, under the Mapping settings, select Lightmap from the Mapping Type pop-up menu.

Lightmap not used (ray tracing, ambient light 0.0)

Using a lightmap (ray tracing, ambient light 0.0)

Changes to textures are excluded from ambient light calculations, reducing time required for subsequent calculations.