Lighting Channels
Control which lights affect which objects with Lighting Channels.
Use Lighting Channels to fine-tune which components are illuminated by which lights. This is very useful for accent lighting or lighting up only specific objects, such as characters.
A light only affects a component when they share at least one channel. There are three channels, and everything starts on Channel 0, so by default every light affects every object.
Where can I find the Lighting Channels?
Both lights and components have them in the advanced section of their Details panel:
| Object | Location in the Details Panel |
|---|---|
| Lights | Light category, in the advanced section |
| Meshes and other primitive components | Lighting category, in the advanced section |
How do I light only a character?
Enable Channel 1 on the character’s mesh and on the light, then disable Channel 0 on the light. The character stays on Channel 0 as well, so it’s lit by both the rest of the scene’s lights and its own light, while everything else ignores the character light.
To change channels at runtime, call Set Lighting Channels on the light or primitive component.
Frequently asked questions
Why are my Lighting Channels being ignored?
Lighting Channels only apply to direct, dynamic lighting and shadowing, so use Stationary or Movable lights. Baked lighting from Static lights ignores them.
Do they work on translucent materials?
They work on opaque materials. Translucent materials only respect them when they use the Surface ForwardShading lighting mode, rather than the translucency lighting volume.
Do they affect performance?
Lighting Channels have a small but non-zero GPU cost.
Links
Check out the following resources to learn more about the subject.
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