A Guide on Setting Up Lighting For a Jungle Scene in Unreal Engine 5

Introduction

Hello, my name is Dawid, and I am currently working at the Rzeszów branch of Flying Wild Hog. This studio marks my first venture into the gaming industry. Previously, I had been involved in various sports events, particularly drift. I also have experience in creating corporate films and even produced a micro-documentary centered around a blacksmith who crafts custom knives. Throughout my career, I have honed my skills in playing with different forms and shots, allowing me to develop my own unique shooting technique, with a specific focus on medium and close frames. Photography has always been a passion of mine, and during mountain hikes, I eagerly capture landscapes, as they serve as excellent exercises for framing and composition.

My goal was to work in gamedev. I have been very interested in cinematics and how it's all been created for some time now. I started to explore the "secrets" of how to create games and slowly I developed an interest that absorbed me completely. Thanks to this, I joined a great team at Flying Wild Hog and I was thrown into the deep end, as I joined the production of a project that drew stylistic inspiration from the films of Akira Kurosawa. I think you know the title Trek To Yomi. However, I was not responsible for the lighting, but I had a small part in "beautifying" the game – creating additional animation sequences with NPCs during the game. Nothing with the light... 

At the end of my work on Trek to Yomi, I was transferred to the position of Lighting Artist. This made me extremely happy and motivated me to deepen my knowledge. It's true that I already knew something about lighting in games but I felt that it was definitely not enough – I lacked specific knowledge and I wanted to benefit from the experience of specialists.

I did a lot of research on training courses on lighting in games and after many conversations and meetings with other artists, I chose the courses offered on the CGMA platform.

During the winter session with Peter, I verified and deepened my basic knowledge – the typical, old-school style of burning lights, while with Adriano Grasso I explored the latest techniques and, of course, the secrets of working with global Illumination using Lumen.

Each training brings something different, broadens your horizons, and allows you to look at working with light from different perspectives.

The organization of classes, the method of conducting them, and providing feedback on the CGMA platform are reliable and very clear. Communication is extremely important during the training, not only between the students and the instructor but also between the participants themselves. Their commitment, openness, and willingness to cooperate also define this training, especially in the Q&A sessions.

Many people from all over the world take part in these trainings, so the time zone, in which the lecturer is located can often be a challenge. Here, CGMA meets expectations and, for example, a Q&A session is prepared in advance, to which students can send questions in advance. However, the sessions themselves are recorded and later available to users on the platform. Therefore, everyone has the opportunity to ask and receive answers both online and offline.

The same applies to the training materials themselves, which are recorded by the instructor and made available during classes. This is very good practice because it allows you to focus on the source material itself, complete the task, and then get feedback from the instructor. It saves a lot of time. However, as I mentioned earlier – commitment is the key.

One of my instructors is Adriano Grasso, whom I would like to thank very much for his way of imparting knowledge and great patience, as well as great contact, both during the course and after completing the training. Many times I turned to Adriano with problems for which I could not find a solution, or with questions that bothered me. He always found time to answer, advise, or guide me so that the effect of the work was as good as possible.

Speaking About the Portfolio

My portfolio is still in the process of creation. In the beginning, I shared everything and didn't pay attention to whether it was good or not. During the training, I learned what a professional portfolio should look like – thank you Adriana – so I looked through my works and cleaned up the portfolio to make it more interesting and coherent.

One of the most visually interesting projects that I would like to present is The Last Drop. This is a work summarizing 10 weeks of training at CGMA with strong and motivating support from Adriano.

Yes, lighting is a very important and complex issue. There are many factors that influence the final effect. In my opinion, the most important thing is to understand how light works, its colors, the direction of incidence, distance from the illuminated object, how materials affect brightness, reflection, and therefore, the final effect.

In addition, there are technical aspects, especially in gameplay. In fact, the whole fun begins with deciding how we will light the game. Whether it be light burning, lightmap, or dynamic lighting. It all affects the final effect and, most importantly, performance.

Another issue is lighting scenes for cinematics – here we can get a little more crazy with the number and type of (not always optimal) lights. For example, Rectangle Lights are very difficult to calculate and significantly affect performance. If we throw cinematics into a sequence, the scene can have more different lights in a smaller area.

The Last Drop Project

I'm glad you liked this project. It was quite a tedious and creative process in terms of choosing the topic, telling the story, and finding the right inspiration. The knowledge gained during the training with Adriano at CGMA came to my aid.

I used ShotDeck to determine the mood, lighting, and VFX. This extensive database offers a wide range of film shots categorized by subject matter, color, and lighting type.

In addition, I opted to employ Lumen at the outset to illuminate the envisioned scene. This decision facilitated asset selection and further aided in refining the creative direction. Nanite technology was also utilized in the process.

Stage 1: The Mood

As I mentioned earlier, I used ShotDeck to determine the mood, lighting, and VFX. I put together the whole thing using PureRef. The next stage was finding interesting assets.

Stage 2: Assets

For this project, I used the Electric Dreams sample from Unreal Engine because it fit perfectly with my vision and the story I wanted to tell. The use of the new PCG technology allowed me to work faster with ready-made elements without having to delve into the secrets of creating the environment and materials. At this stage, I gave up the motorized lighting system and used the Ultra Dynamic Sky plug-in, which significantly accelerated the global light setting.

Stage 3: Compositing and the Global Lighting Setup

At this stage, I had everything I needed to tell the story. I found the right shot, cleaned up the unnecessary elements, and started setting up the lighting. This is what the frame looked like before "cleaning".

This is how it looked after the preparation for further work with environmental elements and setting global lighting.

Stage 4: Adding Assets and Upgrading the Environment

It's time to build a story using characters and elements of the environment. Here I could play around with the composition of the frame and find the right depth – for this purpose, I used planes with volumetric fog.

Stage 5: Adding Spotlights

The next step was to highlight the foreground, I used several spotlights with a low radius and narrow opening angle to illuminate the elements that were important to me in detail. Additionally, I used hidden planes to block light and highlight shadowed areas for better contrast.

Stage 6: Using DaVinci Resolve 

To add richness, I rendered the frame from Unreal Engine to DaVinci Resolve, then created a few nodes for light color correction, and finally created a LUT, which I implemented in PostProcess in Unreal Engine.

Stage 7: The Final Work

Here you can see the final result of the project:

Some Tips

Let's think about it. It's not something that can be easily explained, but undoubtedly, the foundation of photography will be a strong aspect. This includes understanding the fundamentals of working with light and different types of shot compositions, such as close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots.

Having knowledge of the Zone System, developed by the late Ansel Adams, proved to be incredibly valuable in this process.

Having proficiency in operating a camera and understanding focal lengths can also be advantageous. It's worth noting that all the shots, including the final ones, were captured using the CineCam camera, rather than the default viewport engine.

By utilizing the appropriate camera focal settings, we were able to manipulate the depth of field. This allowed us to highlight important focal points within the frame while keeping the rest neutral, effectively defining the near, medium, and far planes.

It is also worth exploring the knowledge and techniques typically associated with tech art. You can find quite interesting solutions on various thematic forums.

Moreover, it is beneficial to delve into the literature related to studio lighting and film sets. Online training programs, such as CGMA, Gnomon, and ArtStation, offer valuable resources for honing skills. It is advisable to prioritize structured online courses over relying solely on YouTube for optimal growth in game development.

It's worth practicing all the time, not just in creating environments but also in utilizing available free assets. The Epic Games Store frequently offers five free packages every month, catering to various needs, making it easy to find suitable resources.

Once again I would like to thank Adriano Grasso for his great support during the implementation of this project while attending the training at CGMA. And, of course, to Evan Anglakis, the CGMA moderator, for inviting me to create this project.

Thank you all for reading the article!

Dawid Wrona, Lighting Artist