Per-pixel and per-vertex lights
Learn about how Unity categorizes Light components so they light GameObjects per-pixel or per-vertex.
Read time 1 minuteLast updated a month ago
If you use the default Forward rendering path, each realtime Light component can be one of the following types:
- A per-pixel light, which lights each pixel of an object accurately.
- A per-vertex light, which lights each vertex of an object accurately. Unity interpolates lighting for the pixels between vertices.
Per-pixel lights give more accurate results but reduce performance.
The Built-In Render Pipeline also sets some lights as Spherical Harmonic (SH) per-vertex lights, which are the least accurate but render the fastest.
For more information, refer to the following:
- Light limits in the Universal Render Pipeline (URP)
- Per-pixel and per-vertex lights in the Built-In Render Pipeline