Lightmass: multi-bounced sky lighting

[Wyatt Grit]

Ok so here is an apples to apples comparison of Luoshuang Mod and the 4.18 preview.
Skylight only, using an HDRI and 15 light bounces. Static lighting scale of 0.1
ini was modified on both : NumShadowRaysScale=16 , NumPenumbraShadowRaysScale=64 , NumHemisphereSamplesScale=32

Luoshuang Mod: 3 h build time



4.18 preview : 1.5 h build time



Daniel's build is much faster, but I feel that Luoshuang's modded version looks a bit nicer. There is a big difference in brightness although I imagine that Daniels build might play better with sun lighting.

P.S Thank you Luoshuang for your contribution.

[DanielW]

While working on multibounce in 4.18 I compared vs Luoshuang's implementation and found the results to be nearly identical (screenshots attached). However, 4.18 also has a filtered cubemap representation for the skylight which causes significant differences, which are expected. I think the difference you are showing is actually from the filtered skylight.

You must set bUseFilteredCubemapForSkylight=false in BaseLightmass.ini to compare 4.18 multibounce to Luoshuang's to get apples to apples.

[Wyatt Grit]

Thanks for the response Daniel and great work! Apples to Apples indeed!

With further testing I was able to replicate almost similar results than Luoshuang's modded version by setting "bUseFilteredCubemapForSkylight=false" in 4.18; although there are some differences with Daniel's build providing better quality and speed.

Taking into consideration that the cube map was filtered actually provides more accurate results, so I chose a camera angle that better illustrated what using an HDRI should look like.



We can see here that there are some quality differences in Daniel's build ( less splotchy and better deep shadows), as well as a over all softer lighting.



Yet the Default version is actually very nice and represents exactly what a HDRI light scene should look like.

Seeing as we can get very different results from a filtered and non filtered version it would be great to be able to switch between the two in the editor directly!

[Luoshuang]

Thanks for the response Daniel and great work! Apples to Apples indeed!

With further testing I was able to replicate almost similar results than Luoshuang's modded version by setting "bUseFilteredCubemapForSkylight=false" in 4.18; although there are some differences with Daniel's build providing better quality and speed.

Taking into consideration that the cube map was filtered actually provides more accurate results, so I chose a camera angle that better illustrated what using an HDRI should look like.

We can see here that there are some quality differences in Daniel's build ( less splotchy and better deep shadows), as well as a over all softer lighting.

Yet the Default version is actually very nice and represents exactly what a HDRI light scene should look like.

Seeing as we can get very different results from a filtered and non filtered version it would be great to be able to switch between the two in the editor directly!

You can also try out the option I mentioned at #222 if you have tons of memory =)

[The_Distiller]

Seeing as we can get very different results from a filtered and non filtered version it would be great to be able to switch between the two in the editor directly!

I agree. It should be an option in the project settings -> rendering rather than effectively being hidden in the BaseLightmass.ini.

[Frepp73]

Very impressive work with the new lightmass. I thought Luochang's Lightmass was good but this is even nicer.
I'm one of those people who like to find a good setting for things and then don't feel any need to experiment with them. Would the "standard" 4.18 Lightmass give me the most correct result (without changing the lightmass.ini) or would that be different from case to case?

[Luoshuang]

Very impressive work with the new lightmass. I thought Luochang's Lightmass was good but this is even nicer.
I'm one of those people who like to find a good setting for things and then don't feel any need to experiment with them. Would the "standard" 4.18 Lightmass give me the most correct result (without changing the lightmass.ini) or would that be different from case to case?

Just use the stock one. When Daniel and me were working together we used some offline renderer (Mitsuba Renderer) as reference and it showed very similar results. The only thing you may want to tweak is the option I mentioned at #222 if you have tons of memory and want to make it faster. Basically when bUseFilteredCubemapForSkylight is turned off it doesn't mean using a non-filtered cubemap, but not using a cubemap at all (it will use a super blurry SH representation of skylight which loses most of directionality and is not physically correct). So unless you want to intentionally make the environment lighting more 'averaged out', you probably never need that option.

[Muchasty]

I did some tests:

1) UE4 17.2 with multibounce tweaked UnrealLigthmass.exe
Quality=MEDIUM / SLLS=0.2 / NILB=13 / NSLB=n/a / ILS=0.75
Time=--/--




2) UE4 18.1 Prev 1 - stock lightmass
Quality=MEDIUM / SLLS=0.2 / NILB=13 / NSLB=1 / ILS=0.75
Time=1000sec (36 CPU threads)




3) UE4 18.1 Prev 1 - stock lightmass
Quality=MEDIUM / SLLS=0.2 / NILB=13 / NSLB=13 / ILS=0.75
Time=1013sec (36 CPU threads)


=================================================

I have to say that 18.1P1 with NILB & NSLB>10 gives very nice results

info:
SLLS - Static Lighting Level Scale
NILB - Num Indirect Lighting Bounces
NSLB - Num Sky Lighting Bounces
ILS - Indirect Lighting Smoothness

[Muchasty]

Just one thing: in UE4 18.1 option r.ScreenPercentageEditor=1 do not affect at all to the image ( even ScreenPercentage value changes nothing - I usually override it to 200).
But quality looks like Editor has this option enabled with some higher value cause the orange object outlines are very thin and objects are very sharp.

[Muchasty]

And this is version with better HDRI parameters ( contrast ) and lower Global Brightness
Now all hdri-sky light colours are visible on the wall. ( HDRI represents sunset )

[xaviprz]

Ok so here is an apples to apples comparison of Luoshuang Mod and the 4.18 preview.
Skylight only, using an HDRI and 15 light bounces. Static lighting scale of 0.1
ini was modified on both : NumShadowRaysScale=16 , NumPenumbraShadowRaysScale=64 , NumHemisphereSamplesScale=32

Luoshuang Mod: 3 h build time



4.18 preview : 1.5 h build time



Daniel's build is much faster, but I feel that Luoshuang's modded version looks a bit nicer. There is a big difference in brightness although I imagine that Daniels build might play better with sun lighting.

P.S Thank you Luoshuang for your contribution.

What lightmass settings did you use there? That lighting its awesome!!

[rafareis123]

I did a comparison between 4.17 and 4.18 version. I have noticed a strong black shadow on the corners and intersections.

[Wyatt Grit]

What lightmass settings did you use there? That lighting its awesome!!

Nothing special,

Production
HDRI on the Skylight; Skylight set to Static
Static lighting scale of 0.1
15 light bounces (4.18 preview has 15 on the sky lighting)
Lighting Quality of 4
BaseLightmass.ini was modified : NumShadowRaysScale=16 , NumPenumbraShadowRaysScale=64 , NumHemisphereSamplesScale=32


These settings don't really have much impact on the style of the final look, as the renderings merely illustrate how nice "true" multi-bounce HDRI Skylighting looks like (Thanks to Daniel and Luoshuang) and why it is so exciting to finally have this in UE4 for Arch-Viz.

In order to get a more stylized look (more like Luoshuang's mod). as stated in #249 you can disable "Filtering on the Skylight" using "bUseFilteredCubemapForSkylight=false" in the Baselightmass.ini, Although the Default set to true is more physically accurate.

If you are looking to get a better understanding of Lightmass, Check out rafareis123 in-depth tutorial : https://ue4arch.com/ue4archs-unreal-...rkflow-part-1/

[DanielW]

The black shadow in corners is due to too much biasing by Lightmass when tracing gather rays. With point and spot lights, only the first bounce uses a gather and is affected by this bug, while the rest of the bounces come from photon mapping which is not affected. With multibounce skylight, all bounces are gathers and are affected by this bug so the artifact is much more noticeable.

This is completely solvable but I just ran out of time for 4.18. It's high on my priority list.

[xaviprz]

Nothing special,

Production
HDRI on the Skylight; Skylight set to Static
Static lighting scale of 0.1
15 light bounces (4.18 preview has 15 on the sky lighting)
Lighting Quality of 4
BaseLightmass.ini was modified : NumShadowRaysScale=16 , NumPenumbraShadowRaysScale=64 , NumHemisphereSamplesScale=32


These settings don't really have much impact on the style of the final look, as the renderings merely illustrate how nice "true" multi-bounce HDRI Skylighting looks like (Thanks to Daniel and Luoshuang) and why it is so exciting to finally have this in UE4 for Arch-Viz.

In order to get a more stylized look (more like Luoshuang's mod). as stated in #249 you can disable "Filtering on the Skylight" using "bUseFilteredCubemapForSkylight=false" in the Baselightmass.ini, Although the Default set to true is more physically accurate.

If you are looking to get a better understanding of Lightmass, Check out rafareis123 in-depth tutorial : https://ue4arch.com/ue4archs-unreal-...rkflow-part-1/

Thanks for the answer! The multi-bounce HDRI Skylighting it´s just awesome!! Thanks Daniel and Luoshuang