Research

To begin my research I first thought about the kind of room I was going to build and what lighting would be relevant or needed for said room, my idea was for a simple living room because this could have a variety of things in it like lamps for small lights, a fire in a big fire place this is something that could be used with a particle effect used as a light source.

Now that i had my idea I began to research different lights used in the unreal engine, these consisted of;

Point lights

This was a simple light that radiates from its centre in a sphere so it shines in all directions; this could be used for a light that has nothing to block its light like a standard light bulb hanging from the ceiling like what’s common in most households. This has a variety of different options for customization like its radius size or intensity or even colour to get exactly what kind of result I want.

Spot Lights

This is similar to the point light since it is a simple light with the same customization options except for a few and this is where its sets itself apart that and the fact its shape is cone based so it can be targeted like a light that’s point at things, the extra options this has is the radius of the outer cone and inner cone as well as there length which dramatically alter the shadows and intensity of the lights, I believe this is probably going to be my most used light just simply because of the complex things that can be done with such a simple light.

Directional/Sky light

This light is used to simulate the lights created from the sun, this allows the creator to simultaneously light the entire level which is useful for open world levels and games but less useful for interiors since they would be blocked by the ceiling created. Since my level is going to be a room this wouldn't be needed but would still be useful for some light coming in through the windows.

God Rays

God rays are simply beams of light that are visible in the air that are created by viewing lights on certain angles in rooms this would be something I will try to incorporate into my level.

Emissive/Particle Lights

Emissive and particle lights are a lot more niche and not as commonly used lights in game since they take up a lot of GPU especially particle systems these are more used for demonstrations or short scenes, this meant I would try to include one of these to cover more lights in my level and since it’s only a short section I thought the GPU issues wouldn’t affect my small scene.