Unreal Engine 5.5 Megalights - Tech Demo | Unreal Fest 2024

Summary

The video introduces 'Mega Lights,' a new Unreal Engine feature that significantly enhances lighting capabilities. The technology allows creators to use more dynamic, high-quality lights without performance constraints, similar to how Nanite improved geometry rendering and Lumen enhanced global illumination. The presentation showcases how Mega Lights handles numerous dynamic light sources, enabling complex lighting setups, shadows, and vibrant scenes in real-time, even on devices like the PlayStation 5. The feature is currently experimental in Unreal Engine 5.5, and artists can explore it further at the Expo floor.

Takeaways

• 💡 Unreal Engine is focusing on enhancing user experience by removing technical limitations that hinder creativity.
• 🔦 A major new feature introduced is 'Mega Lights,' allowing creators to use significantly more light sources with higher quality.
• 🌅 Mega Lights removes previous limitations on direct lighting and shadows, enabling much more dynamic and detailed environments.
• 🏙 The environment showcased in the demo was built using assets from Quixel Megascans and Kitbash 3D, soon to be available on the new Fab asset Marketplace.
• 🕹 Mega Lights enables the use of area lights as easily as any other light source, opening new creative possibilities for artists.
• 🚨 Real-time rendering with Mega Lights allows for vibrant color, soft shadows, and textured lighting, which were previously impossible in real-time.
• 🎇 The scene demonstrated over 1,000 individual shadow-casting light sources, creating an impressive display of dynamic lighting and volumetric fog.
• 📈 Mega Lights supports performance on platforms like PlayStation 5, showing that even high light and shadow density won’t hinder performance.
• 🎨 Artists can now work playfully, without technical limitations, using whatever light configuration works best for their scene.
• 🚀 Mega Lights is available as an experimental feature in Unreal Engine 5.5, giving developers early access to test it on the Expo floor.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the presentation in this script?

The presentation focuses on Unreal Engine's new 'Mega Lights' technology, which allows creators to use more and higher-quality light sources without technical limitations, particularly regarding shadow-casting lights.

How does 'Mega Lights' enhance the creative process for artists?

'Mega Lights' removes limitations on the number of light sources and shadows, enabling artists to use a massive number of dynamic and high-quality light sources to bring their environments to life without the usual constraints.

What are 'textured area lights' and why are they significant?

Textured area lights are considered the gold standard for offline rendering. In this context, they can now be used in real-time in Unreal Engine, allowing for realistic lighting effects, soft shadows, and vibrant color spill in a scene, which was not possible before.

What tools or partnerships were highlighted in building the demo environment?

The demo environment was built using assets from the Quixel Megascans library and in partnership with Kitbash 3D, which provides 3D models and materials. Many of these assets will soon be available on Unreal Engine’s new Fab asset marketplace.

What specific new feature does Mega Lights introduce in terms of lighting?

'Mega Lights' introduces the ability for artists to use a large number of light sources, including dynamic and shadow-casting lights, without sacrificing performance, making it a groundbreaking feature for direct lighting and shadow creation.

How does Mega Lights handle performance, especially with a high density of light sources?

Mega Lights can handle environments with a high density of light sources, such as the demo scene with over 1,000 dynamic shadow-casting light sources. Despite the complexity, it runs smoothly, even on platforms like PlayStation 5.

What role does volumetric fog play in the demo scene?

Volumetric fog is used in conjunction with dynamic light sources in the demo scene, creating an immersive environment where the scattering of light through the fog enhances the overall visual effect.

How does Mega Lights contribute to storytelling within the Unreal Engine?

Mega Lights gives creators the freedom to use various types of lighting, such as area lights, spotlights, and point lights, allowing them to visually tell stories with more detail and atmosphere by using a wide range of lighting configurations.

What was one of the visual examples given to showcase Mega Lights?

An example showcased was a bustling marketplace environment where all the shop fronts, displays, oil lamps, and string lights were illuminated with numerous light sources. Shadows were enabled for every light to bring the scene to life in a dynamic way.

Is the Mega Lights feature currently available for all users?

Mega Lights is an experimental feature available in Unreal Engine 5.5. Users can test it out on the Expo floor or in the engine itself if they have access to version 5.5.