[UE5] Lighting help needed! Jungle Scene

JohanMattias

I've been trying to practice my lighting but I feel like I'm just missing something... I'm using a HDRI and lumen but I feel like what I've done with the colours just isn't working and looks really amateur.

I've followed a guide on youtube which whilst his scene came out stunning mine looks dreadful

ThisisVictoriaZ

HI! I would start off by saying that your lighting does not look dreadful! Unfortunately sometimes when people are making YouTube videos they will leave out important information such as post processing changes, or shaders which can heavily impact the final results of a shot. 
For me the biggest thing that's sticking out in your lighting is that everything is looking pretty flat/ the same color. The rocks, moss, and stone are all looking fairly warm toned from this screenshot, with the main color being a medium brown color. In that case introducing cool toned shadows would really help the image feel more balanced and interesting. This is an example I found on artstation 

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Qrw9ZB
They used a blue fog here which looks really cool, and balances out nicely with the rest of their materials. 
Another thing I will mention is that your scene doesn't really have a specific point of interest or anything that draws the eye, instead everything is kind of the same. The depth doesn't read very well, and my eye doesn't know where to look. If you want me to be drawn to the structure in the back then help it stick out more! Fog will help with this but as you can see in the shrine example they also use other techniques such as a heavily contrasting shadows in the foreground, and an edge light on the building itself to help you know where to look and and what is important. 
another reference with similar techniques being used: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8w9Vbn

JohanMattias

Thank you this is some really great feedback. I'm going to widen the path and try cutting away the trees behind the building to add contrast and see if that leads the eye better.

I think the tutorial I watched was pretty good for not skipping stuff but when he was messing around with shadow and colour values he knew exactly what he was looking for whereas I feel a bit clueless. I'll try to make some lighting similar to that example you have given. 

Thank you so much!

Noren

Can you link the guide you were using, perhaps? My initial reaction would likewise be that it looks a bit flat and washed out. Could be exposure settings.

I haven't used Unreal for lighting, so some of this might be off, but what kind of HDRI are you using? One for the sky or one shot beneath a canopy? Either might be relatively cheap (computationally) but might not be a good fit for your scene, which has very little open sky and ideally (ignoring cost), a full scene like that is its own HDRI, so to speak.
Overall, the difference in brightness between ambient light and direct sunlight is too small and the godrays look like a post effect due to their localized nature. Could be just the fog, though.

Ruz

looks ok to me

JohanMattias

Noren said:

Can you link the guide you were using, perhaps? My initial reaction would likewise be that it looks a bit flat and washed out. Could be exposure settings.

I haven't used Unreal for lighting, so some of this might be off, but what kind of HDRI are you using? One for the sky or one shot beneath a canopy? Either might be relatively cheap (computationally) but might not be a good fit for your scene, which has very little open sky and ideally (ignoring cost), a full scene like that is its own HDRI, so to speak.
Overall, the difference in brightness between ambient light and direct sunlight is too small and the godrays look like a post effect due to their localized nature. Could be just the fog, though.

I'm using a HDRI which is just plain clouds but I could try another one. The problem I had was that if it has any foliage it usually shows up in the sky and you can see the scale is all off

Noren

There is probably a way to use one image for lighting and have another show up in the BG, but I wouldn't use a foliage one anyway, just wanted to check.

Depending on if there's something behind the camera, you might want to block that part of the scene in/off if it won't be seen at any point, so there's less light coming from the front.

JohanMattias

Noren said:

Can you link the guide you were using, perhaps? My initial reaction would likewise be that it looks a bit flat and washed out. Could be exposure settings.

I haven't used Unreal for lighting, so some of this might be off, but what kind of HDRI are you using? One for the sky or one shot beneath a canopy? Either might be relatively cheap (computationally) but might not be a good fit for your scene, which has very little open sky and ideally (ignoring cost), a full scene like that is its own HDRI, so to speak.
Overall, the difference in brightness between ambient light and direct sunlight is too small and the godrays look like a post effect due to their localized nature. Could be just the fog, though.

https://youtu.be/Qv4sbYKwHDY?si=TrqCwXzViusZl5UM

JohanMattias

Noren said:

There is probably a way to use one image for lighting and have another show up in the BG, but I wouldn't use a foliage one anyway, just wanted to check.

Depending on if there's something behind the camera, you might want to block that part of the scene in/off if it won't be seen at any point, so there's less light coming from the front.

Great point! I can set the skylight to a different cube map without it displaying on the skybox. I'll experiment with a few more but from my quick check that has helped add a lot more colour to the scene and reduce the monotone muddy appearance 

Noren

The tutorial looks fine to me, but he uses some heavy local exposure to brighten the landscape compared to the sky in the first bit. That's not realistic in the sense of how cameras work (and you'll notice it looks a bit strange when he looks up) but a valid artistic decision. Photographers might do the same with all kinds of tricks.
However, if you copied this too closely, it could lead to the somewhat flat look in your scene which is mostly under foliage, not on a clearing.
Like ThisisVictoriaZ pointed out, you'll want some focal point, which in your shot could just as well be the bottom of the stairs, lit by a central sun beam and maybe some warm light bouncing around. The temple could be visually separated from the top of the stairs with some (local, if necessary, but you'd have to test how that works with navigating the scene if that's on the table) fog and a shift to cooler colors as a secondary point of interest. Maybe you even went for that (focus on the stairs) but the contrast between sun and shadow is just too low. The darker your surrounding, the more the lit areas will stand out.