Anara Rubric: Lighting Optimization
Pillar Overview
The atmosphere's soul. This rubric measures how the vision uses light and shadow to create immersion without sacrificing the project's frame-budget.
Analytical Performance Matrix
| Criterion | Weight | SLOP (0-2) | FUNCTIONAL (3-5) | PROFESSIONAL (6-8) | ELITE (Visionary) (9-10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baking Strategy | 35% | 100% dynamic lighting; deep shadows for all props; zero pre-calculation. | Mixed lighting with some BakedLightmap use, but artifacts in seams. |
Consistent use of Lightmaps for static geometry; clean, high-resolution bakes. | Fully path-traced offline bakes; seamless integration of light probes and dynamic voxels. |
| Dynamic Influence | 25% | Untracked dynamic lights; overlapping 4+ shadow-casting lights on one surface. | Basic use of Omni/Spot lights with distance-fade enabled. | Clustered Lighting management; precise culling of light-casters outside view. | Ultra-light dynamic lights; zero-draw-call light primitives; cinematic shadow quality. |
| GI Implementation | 20% | Flat ambient lighting; no global illumination; "Dark rooms are just black." | Basic VoxelGI or SDFGI with default resolution and leaking. | High-quality SDFGI; sharp bounce-light; clear indirect lighting coherence. | Masterful GI architecture; real-time ray-traced reflections; infinite atmospheric depth. |
| Diagnostic Balance | 20% | Lighting causing 50%+ of frame-time; "The game runs if I turn lights off." | Basic shadow-atlas tuning, but still lacks performance guardrails. | Fine-tuned shadow-resolutions per light type; optimized PSSM settings. | High-performance, low-latency lighting manifest; predictive light-budgeting. |
Visionary Diagnostic Hooks
- Is the shadow a block of black or a nuance of the vision's depth?
- When the 'Sun' moves, do the shadows dance or do they stutter?
- Does the light feel like a layer of paint or a force of nature?
🌟 Visionary's Final Decree
Lighting is the ink with which we write the vision. To achieve Elite status, implement 'Dynamic Light Culling' based on distance and camera visibility. If your scenes feel lit by a single cohesive vision without overheating the processor, you have reached the Visionary Tier.
<!-- GDSkills research links (agents) Official docs: - https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/performance/gpu_optimization.html - https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/classes/class_performance.html Related skills: - https://github.com/thedivergentai/gd-agentic-skills/blob/main/skills/godot-3d-lighting/SKILL.md — domain remediation for this Anara rubric - https://github.com/thedivergentai/gd-agentic-skills/blob/main/skills/godot-auditor/SKILL.md — compliance citations alongside Visionary scores Parent skill: https://github.com/thedivergentai/gd-agentic-skills/blob/main/skills/godot-analyst/SKILL.md -->