--- title: "Creative Core: Lighting" content_type: course url: "https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting?language=en" language: en difficulty: beginner duration_minutes: 500 unity_version: - "6.3" supported_unity_versions: - name: "6.3" url: "https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting.md?language=en&version=6.3" - name: "6.0" url: "https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting.md?language=en&version=6.0" - name: "2022.3" url: "https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting.md?language=en&version=2022.3" - name: "2021.3" url: "https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting.md?language=en&version=2021.3" - name: "2020.3" url: "https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting.md?language=en&version=2020.3" last_updated: "2026-08-04T14:20:47.000Z" --- # Creative Core: Lighting Whether you’re exploring the architectural design of your new house, sneaking through a haunted castle in a stealth game, or immersing yourself in the world of a cinematic animation, good lighting takes a real-time experience to the next level. From the basics of illuminating a space to telling evocative stories through your design: lighting will help you get there. In this mission, you will light an indoor and outdoor space in the Unity Editor and learn about the fundamental principles of lighting for Unity experiences along the way. You’ll finish by applying what you’ve learned to complete your own lighting study. By the time you complete this learning experience, you’ll be able to: - Implement appropriate lighting in a scene in a manner that will simulate the real-world behavior of light. - Decide the appropriate lighting system in order to achieve common outcomes in a Universal Render Pipeline (URP) project. - Configure light sources and shadows in order to functionally light a scene. - Configure ambient (diffuse environmental) lighting in order to convey mood or enhance realism. - Generate a lightmap in order to implement baked lighting in a scene. - Configure Light Probes in order to increase the realism of baked lighting. - Configure Reflection Probes in order to achieve accurate reflections. - Troubleshoot common lighting errors in order to appropriately light a scene. About this learning experience This project is a standalone learning experience which uses content developed for the [Creative Core pathway](https://learn.unity.com/pathway/creative-core). You’ll find everything you need to get started with lighting in Unity, but you may also notice references to the guided learning journey for that pathway. If you decide that you’d like to complete the whole [Creative Core pathway](https://learn.unity.com/pathway/creative-core), you can start at any time. You’ll receive credit for any tutorials that you have already completed when you do. ## Contents - [Get started with lighting](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/get-started-with-lighting?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/get-started-with-lighting.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Explore lighting fundamentals to understand how light behaves and identify light sources in reference images. - [Get started with lighting in Unity](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/get-started-with-lighting-in-unity?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/get-started-with-lighting-in-unity.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Learn how direct and indirect light, global illumination, and real-time versus baked lighting work in URP. - [Configure the Directional Light and skybox](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/configure-the-directional-light-and-skybox?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/configure-the-directional-light-and-skybox.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Learn outdoor lighting basics by configuring Directional Light and a procedural skybox for realistic scenes. - [Add light sources to your scene](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/add-light-sources-to-your-scene?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/add-light-sources-to-your-scene.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Learn to configure different Light components and ambient lighting to enhance an outdoor amphitheater scene. - [Configure shadows in your scene](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/configure-shadows-in-your-scene?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/configure-shadows-in-your-scene.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Explore how to configure shadows and post-processing so your scene lighting produces more realistic results. - [Bake a lightmap for your scene](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/bake-a-lightmap-for-your-scene?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/bake-a-lightmap-for-your-scene.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Set up baked lighting, create a Lighting Settings asset, and configure lightmaps to complete outdoor lighting fundamentals. - [Improve your lighting with Light Probes](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/improve-your-lighting-with-light-probes?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/improve-your-lighting-with-light-probes.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Learn to place and evaluate Light Probes to enhance realistic lighting in your outdoor scene. - [Examine and complete the indoor scene](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/examine-and-complete-the-indoor-scene?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/examine-and-complete-the-indoor-scene.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Learn key techniques for realistic indoor lighting, including emissive materials, diagnostic views, and placing Light Probes in 3D. - [Refine and troubleshoot the indoor scene](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/refine-and-troubleshoot-the-indoor-scene?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/refine-and-troubleshoot-the-indoor-scene.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Refine indoor lighting in Unity by tuning indirect lighting, fixing light leaks, and correcting lightmap UVs on key models. - [Improve reflections in your scene](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/improve-reflections-in-your-scene?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/improve-reflections-in-your-scene.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Learn how Reflection Probes improve reflection accuracy in an indoor scene and configure them to enhance realism. - [Showcase your work with lighting](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/showcase-your-work-with-lighting?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/showcase-your-work-with-lighting.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Build on your lighting skills to research lighting principles and configure Light components that showcase a product in Unity. - [Challenge: Complete a cinematic lighting study](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/challenge-complete-a-cinematic-lighting-study?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/tutorial/challenge-complete-a-cinematic-lighting-study.md?language=en&version=6.3)) - [Creative Core: Lighting quiz](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/quiz/creative-core-lighting-quiz?language=en&version=6.3) ([md](https://learn.unity.com/course/creative-core-lighting/quiz/creative-core-lighting-quiz.md?language=en&version=6.3)) — Use this quiz to check your understanding of beginner lighting concepts in Unity.