yeah, outside of games most 3d is pre rendered, instead of rendering lightmaps all the lighting is rendered per frame. Or in the case of radiosity a lighting model is created once (in a static scene) and rendered per frame from there.
In many ways it's a lot easiuer than making game art, allthough the latest shader 3 type stuff is starting to introduce more pre rendered features. Getting the same visual quality in realtime isn't really possible. You can get good results for a non interactive tech demo.
Can't wait till new tech becomes mainstream, complex shaders can make the texturing side of game art and lighting much easier, and more natural to an artist than faking everything the way it's done now.
In many ways it's a lot easiuer than making game art, allthough the latest shader 3 type stuff is starting to introduce more pre rendered features. Getting the same visual quality in realtime isn't really possible. You can get good results for a non interactive tech demo.
Can't wait till new tech becomes mainstream, complex shaders can make the texturing side of game art and lighting much easier, and more natural to an artist than faking everything the way it's done now.