I tried disabling “cast shadows” in the blueprint and it didn’t resolve the issue unfortunetly. I’m not raytracing shadows either…so not sure what gives here. It seems like some sort of weird indirect lighting issue as when they are directly lit by other light sources they look fine. I think the same issue is interfering with the hair too. Two images below are after disabling “cast shadows” in the blueprint.
Indirect lighting (i.e in shady part of my outdoor scene)
When directly in directional light
