Virtual Emitters

intermediate tasks

Radiant GI (URP) · Common Tasks

Virtual Emitters

Virtual Emitters are invisible GI light sources that can be placed anywhere in the scene. They inject indirect lighting into the GI computation, making it possible to simulate off-screen or hidden light sources that would otherwise be missed by the screen-space ray tracing.

Enable first: Virtual Emitters must be enabled in the Radiant GI volume override before they take effect.

Adding a Virtual Emitter

There are two ways to add a virtual emitter to your scene:

  1. Menu: Go to GameObject > Create Other > Radiant GI > Virtual Emitter.
  2. Script: Add the RadiantVirtualEmitter component to any GameObject or character.

Properties

PropertyDescription
ColorEmission color of the virtual emitter.
IntensityEmission intensity multiplier.
RangeMaximum emission range in world units.
Box Center / Box SizeConstrains the emitter's influence volume. Use these to prevent light from leaking through walls.

Limits

There is no limit to the number of virtual emitters in a scene, but only the 32 closest emitters to the camera will be active at any given time.

Tip: Virtual emitters are great for placing colored light behind doors, around corners, or under furniture — areas where the camera can't see the actual light source but where indirect illumination should still be present.
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