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Maybe a stupid question on different types of lighting in one game

Development Discussion Rendering
#1

Hello folks,

I’m new to the Unreal Engine (I came from Gamebryo (Modding) and Unity) and I’m curious if it is possible in Unreal 4 to have different types of lighting in one game.

What I mean is, I’m working on a large outdoor world, lighting is fully dynamical (Sun/ Moon, firesources and stuff) but I would prefer lightmapped levels for dungeons, caves and house interiors.
My question is: is it possible to have different types of lighting or have I live with dynamic lighting once I’ve disabled the static lighting in the project settings.

Thanks in advance

#2

Hi LestatDeLioncourt,

Yes you can! There are a few different types of lights within the engine and you can absolutely use these within the same levels.

There are three main types of lights.
Static: Non-movable and uses lightmaps
Stationary: Uses lightmaps for shadows from a distance but dynamically lit shadows when within a specified range. These can also have light color change during run-time. You can see all the specifics in the documentation.
Directional Lights: fully dynamic shadows.

There is also examples that you can see in action within the “Content Examples” > Lighting map

Lighting documentation

I hope this helps!

If you have any other questions feel free to ask!

Thank you!

Tim

#3

And don’t forget to use Lightmass Importance Volumes for the areas that you want to use static lighting. That will minimize lighting build times.

#4

Thanks Tim and Jacky for your input.

It was really helpful.

I think it will take a while before I actually start to work on areas what need to have static lighting. At the moment my main focus is on porting all my models and textures I’ve made for the RPG so far to UE 4 and learn to use the material editor in a proper manner. I’m really impressed by the possibilities the Material Editor offers, even if I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment by the tons of expressions :slight_smile:

Thanks again for your help