Meshes in Blueprints not shading properly?

So I’ve been trying out making blueprints out of meshes (to re-use with ease) but something is wrong,

Static Mesh in shadow


Blueprint with same mesh in shadow

Is this way of doing it not working or have I missed something?

Edit: Okay so that was an easy fix, I changed the Mobility of the mesh in the blueprint to static from movable and it shaded correctly, would still appreciate if someone could explain why the engine behaves this way

Hi Bonny,

I’m glad you figured out your issue. To answer your request for why lighting is handled the way it is you can check out our documentation on UE4’s lighting.

To give a little more insight into the reasons though. There are several different types of lighting methods in UE4. There are Static (non-dynamic shadows and bakes lighting), Stationary(baked shadows, but uses dynamic shadows within close proximity), and Movable (fully dynamic shadows).

There is a definite quality difference between the shadows that can be dynamically generated vs those that are baked by static lighting. Things like which type of light is chosen will definitely play into performance within your levels. The static lighting method with the baked shadow information has no overhead within your game.

Hopefully this will help you out! If you still have questions feel free to ask away!

Thanks!

Tim

Thanks for the reply and quick explanation Hobson!

The shadows for the mesh I had problems with is fixed, however since I have drawers in them that (for my project) needs to be movable, they still get improper shading. Now it may be since my lightmaps aren’t correctly set or basically anything that has with the lighting to do since I’m still learning. Earlier I found a answerhub post with (what I believe) explains that it is a bug and according to a staff member a fix will be in the next release (4.2?).
I will link to it as soon as I find it :slight_smile:

Edit: Answerhub post –> Why is my Directional Light leaking with Dynamic objects? - Rendering - Epic Developer Community Forums

Hi Bonny,

You are correct that the issue related to that AnswerHub post will be in the 4.2 release coming here shortly.

I do want to point out that Lightmaps are not an issue for any object that is “movable.” The reason being is that they are dynamically lit and shadowed. The only reason you need a lightmap is for objects that are non-movable because the lighting information will be baked into a shadow texture that creates no overhead during gameplay. That’s the whole point of the lightmaps. :slight_smile:

If you have any other questions feel free to ask here or post them on the AnswerHub.

Thanks!

Tim

Hi again and thanks for clearing that up for me, that didn’t even register in my brain when I read through the lighting doc. :stuck_out_tongue:
And yeah hopefully with the 4.2 update laymen like me (maybe it’s just me with a short fuse) wont freak out when their shadows dont look right :slight_smile:

Thanks for all the help!

We’re all here to help. I check the forums most days, so if you still have issues I’ll do what I can to help. There are a lot of other great users on here that would more than likely chime in as well. We have a really great group of users and moderators here on the forums! :slight_smile:

Tim

Yeah, it was actually sort of by chance I managed to come across the release of UE4 and I’m really impressed with how much both Epic and the community share everything from concepts, creations and work together to help eachother. The previous fact and how easy (compared to other engines from my taste) it was to start a personal project was a real deal breaker :slight_smile: