LOD Group

LOD Group (LOD group) is a technical term that is extremely important in rendering and optimizing game graphics (technical art). In Unity, a standard component that sets the LOD stage (level of detail) for each 3D model according to the distance from the camera, and controls automatic mesh switching and drawing/hiding (culling).

Real-world analogy: When viewing signs and posters from a distance, only the ``Main Heading (LOD2)'' is displayed, and only when you get closer, do you display the ``Detailed Notes (LOD0)''.

LOD Group is "The manager of a magic trick that automatically switches between a precise sculpture (LOD0) and a simple log (LOD2) according to the distance from the camera (screen size)". When the camera is far away, objects become a few millimeters in size on the screen. At this time, drawing tens of thousands of polygons (the unevenness of the sculpture) is a complete waste of resources. LOD Group instructs, ``If it's this distance, let's change it to 10 simplified polygons (logs)'' and ``If it gets further away and becomes smaller than a pea, stop drawing it and erase it (culling)'', reducing the load on the GPU to the maximum without changing the appearance of the screen at all.

Detailed mechanism and operating principle

Attach the "LOD Group" component to the game object, register LOD0 (high quality), LOD1 (medium quality), and LOD2 (ultra light) meshes to the slots, and enable automatic switching by distance.