Directional Modes

Directional mode decides how much directional lighting information Bakery stores per texel. Non-directional lightmaps store baked color only. Directional lightmaps store extra data that shaders can use for normal maps, surface contrast, and other directional response.

Shader support matters. If the active shaders do not support the selected Bakery directional mode, the baked lighting may display incorrectly. In VRChat, that means the actual world materials need to be tested with the shaders that will ship, not just with a default Unity material.

None / Non-directional

What it stores: One color lightmap with no directional data.

Visual quality: Clean and cheap, but flatter than directional modes.

Normal map response: No convincing baked normal response.

Shader compatibility: Broadest compatibility.

VRAM impact: Lowest. One lightmap.

Best use cases: Distant geometry, simple materials, stylized VRChat worlds, or tight memory budgets.

Worst use cases: Close-up normal-mapped materials and scenes that need believable surface depth.

Dominant Direction

What it stores: One additional map describing a main light direction, similar to Unity directional lightmaps.

Visual quality: Better than non-directional, but less rich than MonoSH or SH.

Normal map response: Present, but limited.

Shader compatibility: Usually more compatible than Bakery SH, MonoSH, or RNM.

VRAM impact: Low to medium. Base lightmap plus one directional map.

Best use cases: Compatibility-first VRChat worlds and modest memory budgets.

Worst use cases: Scenes whose look depends on multiple colored light directions mixing on the same surfaces.

MonoSH

What it stores: SH-style directional information with monochromatic directional coefficients. It preserves much of the useful surface contrast of SH without the full colored directional cost.

Visual quality: Strong general-purpose result for a lower memory cost than SH.

Normal map response: Good balance for most realistic scenes.

Shader compatibility: Requires Bakery-compatible shader support. Test the actual materials used in the project.

VRAM impact: Medium. Base lightmap plus one directional map.

Best use cases: Most realistic VRChat scenes, including interiors, streets, industrial spaces, neighborhoods, and general world production.

Worst use cases: Scenes where the look depends on several colored light directions being preserved separately.

SH

What it stores: Spherical harmonic directional data with stronger colored directionality. Bakery treats it as its highest-quality directional mode.

Visual quality: Highest quality for colored directional lighting.

Normal map response: Strong, especially when several colored lights affect the same surface.

Shader compatibility: Requires Bakery-compatible shaders or custom shader support. Unsupported materials may fail to display lighting correctly.

VRAM impact: High. Base lightmap plus three directional maps, four maps total.

Best use cases: Neon-heavy scenes, clubs, sci-fi spaces, cyberpunk streets, and hero areas with several colored light sources.

Worst use cases: Large VRChat worlds with many high-resolution atlases and limited VRAM, or scenes where the visual gain over MonoSH is minor.

RNM

What it stores: Radiosity Normal Mapping data in three HDR maps total.

Visual quality: More precise than Dominant Direction and strong with colored light from different angles.

Normal map response: Good.

Shader compatibility: Requires Bakery shader support or custom shader work.

VRAM impact: Very high.

Best use cases: Specialized pipelines that already support RNM.

Worst use cases: General VRChat world production where MonoSH or SH already covers the need.

Practical Rule

• MonoSH is the best default for most realistic VRChat scenes.
• SH is worth testing for neon-heavy, cyberpunk, club, sci-fi, or other strongly colored multi-directional lighting.
• Dominant Direction is the fallback when compatibility or memory is more important than lighting richness.
• Non-directional should only be used when directional surface detail is not important.

When not to use SH

Do not default to SH just because it is higher quality on paper. If the scene does not depend on strong colored directional separation, or if VRAM and shader compatibility are already under pressure, stay on MonoSH.

Directional Mode	Maps	Normal Response	Colored Directionality	Shader Compatibility	VRAM Cost	Best Use Case
None	1	None	None	Highest	Lowest	Simple or distant surfaces
Dominant Direction	2	Basic	Limited	Broad	Low to medium	Compatibility-first lighting
MonoSH	2	Strong	Limited	Requires compatible shaders	Medium	Most realistic scenes
SH	4	Strongest	Strong	Requires compatible shaders	High	Neon-heavy multi-directional lighting
RNM	3 HDR maps total	Strong	Strong	Requires compatible shaders	Very high	Specialized RNM workflows

See VRAM and Performance for memory tradeoffs.