So the "realtime GI" is just pre-computed?

And how exactly is that real-time?

And to be fair, it seems like UE4 is doing the same thing.

--
Furthermore, when I attempt to build using the precomputed GI, it doesn't seem to actually do anything.
Do I have to manually place probes or something for it to work?

 

I got same problem it was hard to see a difference after clickign the "bake" button.

 

Make sure that all your props are set to "Static". GI only works on static objects.

 

It's not the same as UE4 because while the props need to be static, you can change things like light direction or material colors and will see the lighting update in realtime.

 

Does this precomputed GI require a separate set of UVs just like lightmaps?

And are there any auto-exposure (eye adaption) effects in Unity 5?

 

A question from me: how many of these features does Unity's implementation of Enlighten have?

 

It pre-computes how meshes should bounce light.
After that , you can just place lights , move them , change their color , change all materials' , change the sky , and everything else at realtime.

 

You don't need a separate UV on your models , you just drop your models and materials on the 3D scene, and it precomputes GI for you.

I would like to see it coming also.

Precomputed for static meshes only , does it works on terrain and trees ?

 

Mark objects as static for GI. Dynamic objects will pick up GI properties from static objects via Light Probes, but not the other way around (because dynamic objects have no GI properties).

And use Reflection Probes. Mesh renderers have options for where they take reflections from - they can take them from Probes, and from Probes + Skybox (the global sky). For indoor geometry (i.e. interior walls) you'll mostly want to override the renderer to use a specific reflection probe. Probes an be set to Baked or Runtime (with time slicing options). There is some blending, but it's not super slick, just functional. It's worth looking through the most recent posts in the old beta forum to follow the adventures of others.

You need to import the Image Effects package for auto contrast. Note also the Fog settings in the Lighting panel only work for Forward Rendering - if you're using a Deferred renderer then you need to use the Fog component from Image Effects (which rather infuriatingly takes it's density settings from the Lighting panel's Fog properties).

Trees, use Light Probes. They can't be lightmapped, ditto foliage.

 

btw. this sounds interesting:
"Fully dynamic GI in 4.5 ms on GTX 980 at 1080p. No precomputation!"
https://twitter.com/sonic_ether/status/568444503062786048

 

I'm not sure that would work on bigger levels.

 

@zenGarden Works on terrains and trees.

 

Wow that came out of nowhere. I'm surprised he's not talking about it here on the forums!

 

Think about why. I personally wouldn't announce something like that either, not before it's 100% working as expected and rock solid. Remember how many people presented something like that in the past and nothing of it saw the actual daylight to date - not only talking about Livenda here, but also people like brilliantgames, kurtloeffler or Font8. tl;dr: Don't get too hyped.

 

Sonic Ether's stuff is very cool. Never use an HDR camera without Natural Bloom. Really look forward to seeing that GI.

 

Oh absolutely, but he is still talking about it...and now so are we...

...and believe you me I stared on with the same incredulity at the development drama of Livenda and Brilliant Games. Call me naive sure but because of the aforementioned drama of those other GI developers that I have a hard time believing yet another is so bold as to throw their hat into this ring...for what exactly?

No my hype is measured but I will always love sneak peeks at potential.

Cheers

-Steven

 

I agree until the product is not , or a demo , and until it would be used in some game , it's just vaporware , unprooven information.

 

hello, i got gi working, but try to get some reflection with particle as shown on the unity 5 trailer video on the car, cant manage to make it work, anyone manage that?

 

Hi, make sure you attach a custom material to the particles and have that material's "Emission" property above 1 (into HDR space). This will let every particle emit light, just like in the video.