N00b question: Realtime GI, Baked GI, or both (for this case)?

Hello.

I already asked this question at the Forums, but I am not sure that is the proper place for it. This is the link to that post: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/n00b-questions-on-mixing-or-not-gi-and-baked-lighting.412806/ Please, feel free to inform me whether I should delete this post or the Forum's one.

Thank you.

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Hello, wonderful lurkers of the Unity intertubes.

I'll try to explain the best I can what I need to achieve, to see if anybody has any suggestions on how to approach this; I have, in fact, tried to come up with something myself, but being the complete n00b I am and not understanding the nuances of Enlighten/Unity lightmaps/etc., have not been successful - like, at all.

Here's the "bullet list" of WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN:

• It is a very basic visualization application (think somewhat very basic archviz)

• The objective is to have a relatively simple set of scenes, i.e. "rooms", that the user can select/switch to;

• Each room needs to be lit (obviously) in a mostly "realistic" way, that is: sunlit plus indoor lighting (if needed) so that it leans more towards a "photorealistic" look (because, archviz);

• Inside each room there is, initially, ONE single piece of furniture "on display" (i.e., a sofa);

• The user can change, for example, the material (fabric) of the sofa, color, etc., and move the camera around to see the furniture piece from any desired angle;

• Finally, the user can also change THE MODEL, that is: the displayed piece can be "replaced" by another model (i.e., some other model of sofa);

And that is basically it.

WHAT IS DONE:

So... here's the thing: everything is done ("functionally"-wise): the user can change scenes, can change the sofa materials, colors, pan the camera, and even change the piece (model) on display. THE PROBLEM is the lighting. I've tried (I believe) almost every possible suggestion I could find/derive/infer from all posts, tutorials, books, Youtube videos and substance-induced trances (kiddin'...), from player settings to lighting tab configurations, and here's where I am currently and what I am having trouble with:

• I tried to do everything with real time lighting, and it worked - SORT OF. I managed to create an acceptable look with all-realtime lights, but performance was horrendous, especially on mobile (tablets); also, the shadows were "meh", but that I can live with;

• I also tried to bake the lighting of the "room" and leave the furniture piece as a dynamic object, lit with a light probe cage (effectively, I tried mixed lighting - I think?); looked kind of OK, but I still don't know how to get shadows from the sofa onto the floor so it doesn't look like it's floating midair;

• Finally, I was going to bake lighting for EVERYTHING, but then I stopped before I even started because I have no idea how am I going to achieve shadows for the different furniture models in the SAME room, since the shadows would be baked onto the scene, thus making it impossible to change the models;

SO THE HELP I NEED IS:

What do you guys recon is the best approach to deal with this scenario? Should I stick with all-realtime lighting and try and figure out a way to make it performant? Any tricks or techniques you can suggest to solve this problem would be very much appreciated.

Also, if anybody with a suggestion needs more information, please ask.

Many, many thanks in advance for anything - even if you just write to call me an ignorant ;-)