Questions about customized lighting

Hi guys.

I am looking for advice on creating more detailed shadows.

Is there a way for me to percisely define what area a light will hit?

This is really my first venture in to creating more detailed, more specific shadowing. Is it a IES Texture that I need?

To be more specific, take a look at this link:

As you can see in the pictures, there are areas where the light is not hitting as intensely. I want to create shadowing similar
to that however I want to customize it. I have been able to find information on light profiles but nothing on how to create a
customized light profile.

To give another example, lets say I have something directly under a spotlight. What I would like to do is make it so that part of that object is hit by the light and part is

not at all.

Any thoughts? And thank you in advance.

Yes you need ies profiles. You can search for them and download them by the thousands from light manufacturer websites.

To make an ies profile is literally just entering a bunch of values into a text file. It will be far easier to edit an existing one rather than make one from scratch.

For what its worth, the IES priofiles do not actually affect shadowing, they just multiply against the light color.

I’ve found programs that allow you take visually make custom IES profiles, but generally, picking them from a library is quicker and gives you better results.

Also with the IES profile libraries it’s easier to match up lights with what type of light/fixture would actually produce that look with an IES profile.

You might be looking for light functions, where you can apply an image or material to a light Light Functions | Unreal Engine Documentation

Here is a link to download IES Gen 3: http://www.rip3d.net/web/en.html#/free/downloads

It’s really easy to use and you can create new ones from scratch or modify ones you find online. You can find a ton online from manufacturers like Philips, General Electric, etc.