I’ve been working with the HDRI Backdrrop feature and am currently at an impasse. I want to use an HDRI for its lighting, NOT as a skybox. I just want the light and not a big skydome surrounding my map with a static image as I use the default dynamic sky that comes with Unreal mostly for the clouds. A static skybox with its own non-moving clouds would ruin that. Is there a way I can make the backdrop invisible while still getting its light for both static AND dynamic lighting? I already tried baking the thing into static lightmaps and making the backdrop hidden in game, but that only gives me static lighting and any dynamic objects like characters are not lit realistically with the HDRI.
Not sure if there’s a way to remove the whole backdrop image while still retaining its lighting. However, with a skylight there’s an option to use a specified cubemap, which is similar and provides for lighting dynamic things. The problem with trying to use the HDRI backdrop is it has a certain range of lighting the scene, I think. Beyond the static image in 3D space it is not lighting the scene, I think. You also need to align it correctly with the ground or it could produce extra shadows and other, potential artifacts.
I’ve tried that before, but it never looked quite right. But with the backdrop, I get lighting nearly as good as when I use the HDRI in Blender.