Quixel and UE4 outdoor scenes

[darthviper107]

@human;57148

Thank you for these thoughts and tips. As somebody interested in making the world itself the “main attraction,” these warnings are valuable.

Questions/curiosities: what if you aren’t going for realism, but you still want a system of dynamic light in an outdoor type environment? Maybe you want the world to feel alive. And alongside AI automatons, weather, static/dynamic architecture/landscape, you might also want a system where the light changes. Day/night is really just one method of this (obviously inspired by irl), but you could implement other styles (very not realistic styles). The point being, is there a place for this, especially if not realism? Do you have any thoughts on this? Seems you have experience and confidence on the topic, so I’m interested in what you have to say and share.

Note: dynamic GI may not actually be what’s needed to do what I am suggesting. I am still learning terms and tech about lighting.

Thanks.

If you’re wanting to do an exterior environment with a moving light (Day/Night) then you can do something like a directional light + an ambient/skylight, or try out the new LPV system to add some GI effects. Again, it’s not going to give as good of results as precomputed lighting, but it’s the only option you have for that type of situation because the light is moving.
As for stylized looks, that depends on what you’re going for. You might not need to try and get a GI effect for some styles.