Note: This is a preview feature and is subject to change. Any Scenes that use this feature may need updating in a future release. Do not rely on this feature for full-scale production until it is officially released.
The GPU Lightmapper gives you an interactive workflow when you’re setting up and tweaking the lighting in your scene. Because this lightmapper uses the GPU in your computer to generate baked lightmaps and Light probes, it’s a faster alternative to the CPU Progressive Lightmapper. Sampling and noise patterns look slightly different than those produced by the CPU lightmapper, because the sampling algorithm is different.
To use the Progressive GPU Lightmapper, your computer must have:
If your computer has more than one GPU, Unity automatically selects one for rendering and a different one for light baking. To change this, see: configuring which GPU to use for the lightmapper.
Note: If the baking process uses more than the available GPU memory, the process can fall back to the CPU Lightmapper. Some drivers with virtual memory support swap to CPU memory instead, which makes the baking process slower.
To select the Progressive GPU Lightmapper in the Unity Editor: In your Project, go to Window > Rendering > Lighting Settings. Under Lightmapping Settings, find the Lightmapper property, and select Progressive GPU (Preview) in the drop-down menu.
If your computer has more than one GPU, Unity automatically uses one GPU for rendering the Scene and the other GPU for baking lightmaps. If the GPU assignments don’t fit your needs, you can specify which graphics card to use for baking.
To see which GPU Unity currently uses for baking:
To see the available GPUs in your machine:
To select a specific GPU for baking:
platform
and device index
with the relevant numbers):Unity.exe "-OpenCL-PlatformAndDeviceIndices" <platform> <device index>
Your choice of assignment should depend on your needs while you’re working on the Scene. If you assign the strongest GPU to either activity, this can incur a cost on the other activity. If you encounter issues, try re-assigning GPUs.
The Progressive GPU Lightmapper does not support: