Why Does My Capture's Lighting Look Different in Other 3D Software?
If your Polycam capture looks different in external 3D software, it's likely due to how that software handles lighting. This article explains why this happens and how to fix it.
Why This Happens
When you create a capture in Polycam, the lighting from your real-world environment is baked directly into the texture. By default, Polycam renders these textures in an unlit mode, meaning no additional lighting or reflections are applied. This is what makes your capture look realistic and consistent in the Polycam viewer.
Most external 3D software, such as Blender, Maya, or Cinema 4D, uses real-time lighting by default. When you import your capture into these applications, the software adds its own scene lighting on top of your already-lit texture. This can make your model appear overly bright, oversaturated, or noticeably different from how it looks in Polycam.
How to Fix This
To make your model look consistent with how it appears in Polycam, you'll need to either switch the material type or remove the extra lighting in your 3D software. You can do this in one of two ways:
- Switch to an Unlit material: Open the material or shader settings for your model and change the shader type to Unlit (or the equivalent in your software). This will display the baked texture as intended, without any additional real-time lighting applied.
- Remove scene lighting: Alternatively, disable or delete any extra lights in your scene. This prevents the software from adding additional illumination on top of your baked texture.
Color Space Mismatches
Even after switching to an Unlit shader, you may notice your textures still look washed out or too dark. This is often caused by a color space mismatch between Polycam's exported textures and your 3D software's default settings. If your textures don't look right after switching to Unlit, check the color space settings for your imported textures in your software and try toggling between sRGB and linear to see which produces the most accurate result.
Re-lighting Captured Models
It's important to understand that the lighting in a Polycam capture is baked into the texture itself. This means the light and shadow information is permanently embedded in the image data and cannot easily be separated from the texture. If your goal is to re-light your model in external software, for example to place it in a new lighting environment or render it under studio lights, you should be aware that the existing baked lighting will conflict with your new lights and may produce unnatural results.
For workflows that require full control over lighting, you may need to consider a different approach, such as capturing your subject under controlled, neutral lighting conditions to minimize the baked lighting effect, or using a dedicated photogrammetry pipeline that supports de-lighting.
Gaussian Splats and Lighting
Gaussian Splat captures handle lighting differently from standard mesh captures. Splats represent your scene as a collection of colored 3D points rather than a textured mesh, and their appearance is inherently view-dependent. This means the way a Splat looks can change depending on the viewing angle, which is different from how a mesh with a baked texture behaves. When working with exported Splat files in external software, you may encounter different lighting behavior compared to mesh exports. Refer to the documentation for your specific software for guidance on how to handle Splat rendering.
Export Format Considerations
The file format you choose when exporting from Polycam can affect whether material settings, including the Unlit shader, are preserved when you open the file in external software. Some formats carry full material data while others do not, which means you may need to reapply shader settings manually after importing depending on the format you use. GLB is generally a good starting point as it is a self-contained format that supports material data, though your results may vary depending on the software you are importing into.