Lumen creating strange 'Sparkles' [UE 5]

[wesviz]

Hi everyone, UE5 user here and though I have been using Unreal for a bit now am new to Lumen so was just doing some simple lighting tests and tutorials.

I created a simple cube ‘structure’ with a golden statue insde. And a very simple lighting set up, with only one directional light.

The video of my problem is here

As the light rotates, I see a kind of unwanted sparkling going on here

Also, the cube itself is 100% closed off, no light should be coming in. It has a Quixel Bridge concrete material on it, with bump map, and the light somehow seems to be coming in through the corners.

Ive gone through many many settings and renders to try and figure out why these two problems are happening - if anyone has any leads I would be very grateful !

Thanks very much

Wes
insta @wesviz

[ftejada]

Seems like the same problem I’m having. Look at these threads (Threads), although I haven’t found a solution yet.

All the tests I have done make me believe that it is a problem with high lux values in the directionalLight.

What values do you have in the intensity DirectionalLight?

[Arkiras]

Try disabling virtual shadow maps in the project settings:

Virtual Shadowmap sparkly light leaking

Can’t quite tell for sure if this is your problem (your video doesn’t load), but it’s the first thing I’d suggest trying

[PianistaMacabro]

weird lumen sparkles also can show up if you have skylight ON but at 0 intensity

[wesviz]

Thank you for all the responses ! I still have yet to resolve this issue, but Im thinking it could also be a camera setting. I will continue looking into this - had to pause as was working on other projects. Thanks again