This is the documentation for Enlighten.
Local reflection probes
- William Joseph
Local reflection probes enable inexpensive reflections that are updated as indirect lighting changes.
Each reflection probe captures a view of the scene as a cubemap, from the point of view of the reflection probe.
Enlighten filters local reflection probes to smooth the lighting within each chart captured in the cubemap. Lighting is not smoothed across boundaries between charts.
Placement
Typical implementation takes reflections for a surface from nearby reflection probes. Reflections are most accurate for surfaces close to the location where the reflection probe is placed. More reflection probes means greater accuracy and greater cost.
It's usually up to the artist to place reflection probes within the world manually. The goal is to place as few reflection probes as possible - it makes sense to place a single reflection probe in the centre of open area or room.
To further improve the accuracy of reflections the artist places a sphere or box volume to approximate the surfaces surrounding each reflection probe.