Does Global Illumination make UV maps less important?

Development Rendering
1

Hi Everyone,
I’ve been posting lately trying to figure out good workflows for real time rendering of meshes that have bad geometry / no UV maps. I know baking lights are better for performance, but I’m working on visualizations rather than games and performance is less of an issues for me.

Would any of the various GI solutions (VXGI / Enlighten) mean the UV maps not matter so much for mesh / geometries, or are they still crucial for calculating how the objects are lit? I ask because the same models that look bad in UNREAL, look great rendered with GI and AO in Cinema 4d etc as still frames.

Thanks for any tips

2

Enlighten uses lightmaps.

VXGI and LPV do not use UVs for lighting.

3

hey Zac,
thanks for the clarification on that. Big difference I didn’t realize.