lighting-lod-pipeline

name	lighting-lod-pipeline
description	Define lighting policy, light budgets, LOD chains, and culling rules so 3D scenes look intentional and hit frame budgets.
origin	everything-game-dev-code
category	art-audio-content

Lighting and LOD Pipeline

Purpose

Define lighting policy, light budgets, LOD chains, and culling rules so 3D scenes look intentional and hit frame budgets on the weakest target.

Use When

• 3D scenes need a lighting approach and nothing is decided beyond defaults
• frame cost traces to lights, shadows, or geometry density at distance
• environments grow and need LODs, culling, and draw-distance policy

Inputs

• art direction for mood, time-of-day needs, and dynamism (static vs day cycle)
• target platforms and their lighting capabilities (baking, shadow budgets)
• scene inventory: interiors/exteriors, scale, density
• frame budget allocation for lighting and geometry

Process

1. decide the lighting policy explicitly: what is baked (or faked with blob shadows/light textures), what is dynamic, and which single light owns real-time shadows in a typical scene
2. budget lights per scene category: dynamic light count, shadow-casting count, and shadow resolution against the weakest target
3. define the ambient/indirect strategy (baked GI, probes, flat ambient plus tuned materials) consistent with the art direction
4. define LOD chains per asset category: reduction targets per level, switch distances tied to on-screen size, and whether the last level is an impostor or culled
5. set culling and draw-distance policy: occlusion strategy for interiors, distance culling tiers for props and detail layers
6. validate on target: light/shadow cost and LOD transitions measured on the weakest device, with popping checked at gameplay camera speeds

Outputs

• lighting policy sheet (baked/dynamic split, shadow ownership, ambient strategy)
• per-scene light and shadow budgets
• LOD chain conventions per asset category with switch-distance rules
• culling/draw-distance policy and the on-target validation checklist

Quality Bar

• every scene states which lights are dynamic and which cast shadows — defaults are decisions, not accidents
• lighting cost is measured within its frame-budget allocation on the weakest target
• LOD switches are not visible at normal gameplay camera distance and speed
• distant or occluded content is demonstrably culled, not just unlit

Common Failure Modes

• every light dynamic and shadow-casting because that was the default when it was placed
• LODs authored once at arbitrary reductions and never tuned to on-screen size, popping constantly
• ambient handled by cranking material emissive or fog until baked and dynamic objects no longer match
• interiors paying for the whole exterior because no occlusion or portal strategy was decided

Related Agents

• technical-artist
• level-designer
• performance-reviewer

Related Commands

• art-3d-pass
• perf-budget
• level-beat

Related Skills

• materials-shading-pipeline
• 3d-asset-pipeline
• vfx-pipeline

Notes

• Keep this skill aligned with the relevant rules layer and current project documentation.
• If engine-specific constraints materially change the workflow, hand off to the matching engine skill or engine-specific reviewer.
• Boundary: this skill owns lighting/LOD policy for content; engine-specific render pipeline settings (e.g. URP/HDRP configuration) belong to the engine layer.