Using the First Person Template, I created a level with default settings and used the 400x400 wall mesh in the Architecture folder in the StarterContent to build a 2x5 room with the meshes.
I applied the wall_basic texture, added some walls with windows, built the lighting and this is what I get.
Every 400x400 piece of the wall is easily discernible and looks jarring. The lighting is just very off. I tried adding a skylight, which helped some, but if I set the intensity of the skylight too high then the whole level appears washed out, less detailed and more ugly.
Is there a way to smooth out the lighting of the walls?
The only way is really to build walls out of a single piece of geometry… or, if it’s not a problem, you could use columns, supports, ect to cover up the seems between meshes.
Really? So is modular level design in UE4 not ideal then?
Like, f I was to model different rooms in a dungeon, let’s say, and fit the models together to make different dungeon layouts, how would I avoid a lighting issue like this? It’s like each mesh is completely ignoring what the lighting around it looks like. I guess I don’t even understand what is causing this to happen, I’m just curious more than anything. Is there ANY way to make it better? lol
I’m also confused because it doesn’t just happen on these walls, but seems to happen with most every mesh. It’s only most noticeable when you have 2 of the same meshes right next to each other, like these walls.
Take a look at this thread. This topic comes up fairly often and Daniel explains the difference in lighting modular assets that you’re seeing.
Essentially what is happening is when lighting is baked each asset they are handled on different CPU threads, so there is no way for the different meshes to know what is happening to the adjacent meshes.
Modular design is ideal for games in general, but for some scenerios like your room here you wouldn’t want to over use modular design for all these planar walls. You’re not only going to see issues with baked lighting, but you’ll also increase your draw call count for the number of meshes in the scene which is not as effecient as using a single wall for one side and a single floor for an area.
This issue with lighting can be covered by usnig assets that cover the seams, like column/supports that was mentioned by . When you use a diffuse texture that isn’t a single base color this can help mask the issue.
Hopefully this helps clear up some of what you’re seeing in your scene.
Thank you VERY much, Tim. After your explanation, it’s very clear to me why this is occurring. That topic (and a few others I found) also do a great job explaining this issue.
I probably overdid the modular design a bit I was mostly just testing out some features of the engine, then ran across this issue.
I was mostly just testing out some features of the engine, then ran across this issue.