Unified lighting and shadowing

Unified shadow and lighting is the lighting model used in the "Doom 3" game developed by id Software.

Previous 3D games like "Quake III Arena", used separate lighting models for determining how a light would illuminate a character or a map. Lighting and shadow information for maps would be static, pre-generated and stored, whereas lighting and shadowing information for characters would be determined at run-time.

"Doom 3" uses a unified model that generates the lighting and shadows for everything at run-time. This means that any lights will affect the whole scene and not only certain parts. This may include self-shadowing via shadow volumes, where characters can cast shadows on themselves, for example the shadow cast by the marine's chin onto his neck.

See also

* Shadow volume, a technique for dynamic shadows used in "Doom 3"