Alan Wake 2 - Lighting

Pandator

Hey everyone !   
Taking the occasion to share some lighting work made for Alan Wake 2, from levels and cinematics. I had the chance to work on multiple locations from Cauldron Lake to Brightfalls, passing by the Dark Place. Enjoy !

Cinematics : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zPR026

Dark Place : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9EVPvR

Brightfalls : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/WB0J4G

Cauldron Lake : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/29VYPY

Eric Chadwick

Super awesome work, I'm always a sucker for good lighting. What were your biggest sources of inspiration for the lighting style? 

Pandator

Thank you @Eric Chadwick !
Oh there are a lot...for each different places and locations. Main one are thriller/horror/noir movies and series mostly, like Taxi Driver, Seven, Drive, No Country for Old Men, The Batman...
For outdoor night, more focus on Prisoners or Dark.
And for the interior, like the villa in Brightfalls, I will say The Crown to chose only one.

littleclaude

This is a step up, amazing work! I love the lighting, very bold choices!

MrHobo

Any particular difficulties lighting for a game like this that looks consistently good with raytracing and without?

Pandator

MrHobo said:

Any particular difficulties lighting for a game like this that looks consistently good with raytracing and without?

Mostly staying focus with the rendering without RT, to have something consistent between platform. I prefer to work without to have more control on what I am achieving and to look at ray tracing has something more to emphasize the work, not to fix problem. (even if I always wanted to activate RT reflection cause it's something that is so pleasant to look at...  
We checked RT during feedback to compare and to find artifact or issue we could see with reflection, transparency, direct or indirect light...our tech team did really good job to bring the best from RT and to find solution for us for some specific workflow.