Hi everyone,
Like a lot of you, I’ve spent countless hours fighting with Lumen, Sky Lights, and Post Process Volumes trying to get that perfect cinematic look. Balancing physical lighting values (like cranking a Sky Light to get wet foliage speculars while compensating with EV100 to keep the shadows deep) usually ends up feeling like total guesswork.
I finally sat down, did the math, and mapped out the exact physical baselines needed for various cinematic scenarios and real-world fixtures. Then, I built an app to do it for you.
Meet Light It Up by Pterosoft Studio.
I put together a quick video breaking down the math and showing how the app works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyOIf8h_rhQ
What does it actually do?
It’s a web-based reference tool that gives you the exact baseline physical units to plug into your UE5 scene, so you can stop guessing and start art-directing. It includes four main modules:
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Real-World Lumen (lm) Database: From a 10-lumen candle to a 30,000-lumen highway cobra-head lamp. It gives you the exact values to balance your practicals against your environment.
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HDRI, Sky & Sun Ratios: The baseline intensity multipliers you need to hit specific art directions (e.g., forcing punchy foliage highlights on a bright day, or creating a heavy, shadowless wash for a storm).
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EV Min/Max Lookup: The exact camera exposure settings required to match those massive real-world light intensities without blowing out your scene.
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Color Grading Targets: Global saturation, Gamma, and Gain offsets (Blue channel) to nail your scene’s emotional temperature.
Pricing & Our Climate Commitment
I wanted to make sure this tool is actually accessible to the indie community.
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Indie License: €9.99/mo (For solo devs, freelancers, and studios under €1M annual revenue).
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Enterprise License: (For large studios needing floating seats).
Also, rendering takes a massive amount of physical energy, so we’ve partnered with Stripe Climate. 1.5% of all subscriptions goes directly to funding next-generation carbon removal technologies. We’re trying to help build digital worlds while protecting the real one.
You can check it out and grab your license here: https://ltu.pterosoftstudio.com
I’d love to hear your feedback! If there are any specific real-world light fixtures or weather scenarios you’d like me to add to the database in the next update, let me know in the replies below.
Happy rendering!