UE4 - Lighting Exterior Scenes (The Basics)

In this video, you'll learn how to setup and light an exterior scene in UE4 using only the necessary assets to keep performance, high FPS and still achieve a good looking scene.
00:00 - Intro
00:26 - Demo Scene Setup
02:03 - Adding Core Components
06:50 - Directional Light ("Sun")
16:30 - Directional Light Summary
17:52 - Skylight (Ambient Lighting)
26:35 - Reflection Capture & Exponential Height Fog
34:59 - BP_Sky_Sphere
38:43 - Distance Field Ambient Occlusion (DFAO)
46:07 - Scene Correction Time-lapse
48:41 - Summary & Recap
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[@DebbieSmith_Kam]

Love the pace and segmented thought process - extremely helpful and much appreciated.

[@jamesaturvey]

Hey man, thanks for making this, I found it really helpful. I've been doing a lot of prop & environment work recently but mostly on the asset creation side so this helped getting my head round basic lighting, cheers!

[@ShockaEdit]

I really love the way you explain things, you make everything feel simple. This really helped me for my exterior scene, thank you very much!

[@Anthrothia]

I think I have watched this video at least half a dozen times, always informative and I pick up something I missed each time. Easy to follow you Ryan keep up the great work !

[@natl9361]

Really love that you take the time to recap the info you just presented, definitely helps with absorbing it all :)

[@paullangford6360]

Another great insightful video from you Ryan. The pace, delivery and info are all 10/10

[@alpinejonny]

This video is insane thank you for putting this together. Making my skylight movable was literally night and day

[@brdklt]

Best of them all ❤️ thank you for your time!

[@SundayLunch]

Thank you this really helped me out, your RTX Interior Lighting Masterclass was a big help too. It is great that your tutorial is 60min more or less as this is a good way to sign off for the today.

[@paolociccone]

Fantastic tutorial. The Distance Field AO tip alone solved an issue that I was having in a scene and couldn't solve. Thank you!

[@acsomiT]

Thank you Ryan. Your tutorials are always pedagogical and easy to understand. Thank you!

[@3d8bits44]

so far this is one of the best explained lighting tutorials in youtube, Thank you, it really tuned up my scene!

[@frankie3351]

I always come back to your videos. you taught me the majority of what I know about lighting. You da man, man!

[@aisyahgulam4663]

Thank you for this video! I've been a lighting artist myself for about 8 years but doing mostly animation and film and I wanted to jump into the gaming industry. This tutorial really helped me a lot as the lighting process in Unreal is a bit more different than what I normally use. It's been very informative and easy to follow along.

[@ambientfuel4264]

this channel has been instrumental in my relearning of Unreal 4. Thank you so much for these simple to understand step by step tutorials.

[@navidumardaraz7163]

Ryan your method of explanation and recaping is absolutely spot on. I love your tutorials. Thanks for sharing.😇

[@dcosta7120]

Fast, direct, precise and professional. Impressive tutorial that deserve like, comment and sub. Since many people like me are relatively new to unreal process it would be interesting to know how long did it take to have this deep knowledge. Thanks for sharing this tutorial, we all appreciate the hard work

[@iherok]

Finally a tutorial in the right pace with the right informations... Thanks a lot

[@hatrankhoa4690]

Thats really what i need!!! Hope you release more video like that, Thanks you!

[@ogarga666]

awesome video as always, thanks so much!

[@baptisteenfrin9572]

Thank you very much, your explanations are so clear, love it.

[@TheGeekLegend]

Nice tuto... actually, the best I've ever seen about lighting!!! Thanks a lot for this!

[@risnandarmultimedia5296]

This is much better explanation about lighting in UE, it's complex but i enjoy your tutorial. keep up the good work

[@vfxart1994]

Nice one as always really like some of your training courses Great stuff!

[@buffy1008]

This was excellent and a pleasure to follow.

[@LumberingTroll]

I always struggle with lighting, looking forward to your future videos on the topic!

[@hyperm3540]

one of the best tuts ever ... clean direct precise and efficient .. gg

[@teokim6298]

Thank you very much. Very helpful and awesome work. One of the best video that I've ever seen~

[@markusbronst7942]

You are the master of light! I'm a still a beginner, but have helped me tremendously to move up a level in understanding lightening the environments. I've done some Udemy courses and watched many youtube videos of course all sorts of topics. From that perspective I love your workflow how you approach the lightening. I can follow it and apply what I've learned. I would appreciate a light tutorial on night outdoor scene.

[@shakaama]

Thank you for this. I find you sincere and not trying to keep the info secret, like other "gurus".

[@josephcaldwell6441]

Love the vid! Super excited to see the alternate approach you speak of that is more hardware intensive. I am generating renders for ArchViz purposes, so the more realistic the results are, the better!

[@biblescenes]

Great video, really helpful, thanks for taking the time to make it.

[@chickenfryedgames4405]

Thank you very much for all the very useful information. Thank you for spending your time explaining as well.

[@ukaszkondek807]

This was very helpful. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed in hope for more :)

[@JustSketchDesign]

This video is amazing... I've been scratching my head for the last couple of days but this seriously lays it all out. Fantastic work Ryan - thank you!

[@lukewilliams7020]

NO! YOU’RE amazing 😍

[@OldGamingGeezer]

Thank you very much Ryan, this is a great guide.

[@klaw7705]

Thanks for such amazing tutorial, Helps so much

[@FinnTheHuman11222]

Great video like always!

[@UnrealEngineTutorials]

Very cool. Definitely need more tutorials on outdoor lighting especially with the direction gaming is going and the next gen stuff coming this year

[@biergek89]

Thanks, you have made one of the best channels for unreal engine! Well done!

[@Chainedelegender]

Thanks man !! Im creating a scene on Unreal and this make me learn many things

[@steedlei1]

My dear guru. great video! We are an architectural firm using BOM software. We will use UE to make fully interactive VR to demonstrate the world most advanced "smart home" system. Now we have a dedicated staff studying UE.

[@Reiot]

Great Stuff just what I want today. Thanks!

[@Keimoj]

I was half waiting for Benny Hill or something for the timelapse music :D picked up cool tips n tricks! Cheers!

[@hristoborisov3713]

brother u are the best, saved me so much time!!!

[@martinnorlin1739]

This tutorial is sooo good! Love it love it love it!

[@harrygeorge3665]

Honestly an Amazing Video

[@mrtobycook]

Very helpful, Ryan! Thanks so much! Would love more videos on this topic - a quick one about converting this to raytracing would be incredibly helpful. So would a skyatmosphere and atmos index etc overview! You are such a great teacher. So many other videos and written explanations (inc the official docs) are just so poorly worded and confusing, even if you know what they are trying to say lol

[@dns.4more289]

this amazing video helps me a lot! Thank you!

[@digeud1590]

Thank you for your tutorial!

[@lospe85]

thank you for sharing you knowledge!

[@thornbloodstone6275]

Thanks for the detailed run through on the lighting system, great for a beginner like myself, knowing where settings are and what functions do what helps when dealing with light & shadow, i find the UE editor functions different from other editors like Daz3d, management of light in the scene is most important when revealing detail in high resolution textures, having the right light & shadow makes the difference in weather you see any of the finer detail in well done textures particularly when looking at images above 2k, the higher the image quality the more faults will show in any image or placement of props & outfits. Lightings is always going to change according to time of day or weather effects during game play so knowing where all the basic settings are in UE is a must. If you use the light source & shadows correct you can optimize render times to be super fast while still maintaining high detail without using super compression Sub D settings that take hours to render for little more detail in the image which really isn't worth waiting 2 hours or more on a still frame in DAZ3D. What i also find useful when dealing with environments or just textures in general is double click the material to open up the parameters and adjust settings as you need for specific textures, particularly when porting models into UE because UE uses PBR shaders, other editors might not share the same shades or color tones, so after porting in new textures on meshes sometimes i find they are way too dark and need brightening via a few methods in the material parameters, it's also good for setting certain hair pieces opacity levels & transparency levels because at times they port in near invisible and you need to adjust those two settings for hair to appear like some other material shaders i've come across on certain items. I found switching to HDRcompression for images increases quality overall but in some cases it might wash color out or not be bright enough, you will still have to alter the parameters in both Materials & Textures by double clicking directly on them and changing some values, can work better then some lighting settings. Switching the DDS files directly to HDR compression works best because for some reason importing textures changes the tones, you could try a bunch of settings in that list but HDR compression makes a big difference in overall texture quality of anything in Unreal.

[@adamplechaty]

Ryan is back, nice!

[@noalterna77]

great tutorial! thank you very much for your effort!

[@remon563]

very nice overlook Ryan! my friend helped create this scene, it turned out really great imho.

[@jobforanorn]

In due time !! I'm designing an exterior scene :) Thanks !!!!!

[@adils4604]

Thank you on this!

[@xiadisun8715]

Just about the time Tyan~Thank ya~

[@MainDoodler]

You are amazing, thank you.

[@Admojoe]

thank you... help me a lot with my exterior project

[@nikitaneznamov2617]

Great tutorial! Thanks!

[@raheel_qureshi]

love this tut bro

[@olgapoli3040]

Thanks a lot for th tutorial, it really helps!

[@brunocandia9671]

The Best ! Thx love you

[@sajithtrajan]

Very useful. Thanks

[@erdbeerbus]

excellent! thank you!

[@Drahoslav_Lysak]

Love your videos :)

[@jinmick9998]

Thank you Ryan help me a lot

[@nov3000]

Welcome back thank you

[@user-vp3hy2zc8n]

COOL VIDEO MAN

[@arshankhan6833]

awesome bro

[@yevost6601]

nice. ty so much!

[@biran03]

this great! coming from maya, this is easy to understand. good thing arnold is similar

[@malebeery6832]

thank you very much 👍

[@darodism]

You are a god send. So many europeans care about "realistic" lighting for a shit scene for a Game Engine when you nailed it in the coffin with this. Performant, basics, what is needed. Plain and simple, and Perfect. WELL made

[@MugandNugFamily]

great tutorial.

[@dyotoorion1835]

The Skylight Intensity Scale has gone to Over 9000!!!

[@chiya_mohammed]

thanks so much!

[@tiredguy2753]

I enjoyed this very much. I am wondering are you thinking of putting a comprehensive or masterclass exterior lighting course on your academy website? This youtube video is a good start, but I would love to dive deeper into exterior lighting.

[@georges8408]

You videos are awesome... Very good because we understand the background of all crucial parameters.. thank you so much... but there is a new atmosphere system now i think.. may we have a tutorial for this ?

[@ssd3d]

Thank you Sir

[@diansumiskum6773]

As always... quality! Any chance you are going to cover the newly added gpu lightmass?

[@DarthIckus]

My frame rate is still woeful (c20FPS on an i5 3570K, 16GB, 1050Ti), but with your help I have doubled the frame rate from the 8-10 that it was, and made the scene look more like reality, as opposed to flat, two dimensional, no shadows, etc. It sucked! Thank you!

[@bluegizmo1983]

22:18 woah Woah WOAH! So, if my light is too dark, bring it up. If it's too bright, bright it down?! 🤯 .....lol🤣 just kidding 😁 love your videos

[@pahimself]

Very helpfull

[@SaadViz]

Many thanks for this highly informative overview, I have a question. I can't get my head around the Distance Field Shadows toggle for the Directional Light. It doesn't seem to do anything, I think you have skimmed through that part as well, Explanation regarding it would be highly appreciated.

[@LDT7Y]

Thanks for making this. Very useful tips! I had a question about lighting multiple levels though. We're making a VR game in UE4 which has a persistent level, a start screen level (pick character, load game, etc) and then a handful of game map levels that stream in/out depending on the player location. The map levels are varied environments, so have different sky spheres, weather, etc. In terms of lighting, should we have seperate lighting settings (post process, lightmass importance volume, etc) for each bit of map (with only a skylight in the persistent level, since you can only have one per world)? Or what exactly do you put in the persistent level for a VR open world game?

[@ThatRyanManning]

Put any lights (including Skylights) into sub-levels and switch the Sub-levels to "Lighting Scenarios". UE4 will treat those as individually packaged, which will allow you to load/unload as needed. When sub-levels are set to "Lighting Scenarios", all the baked lighting will be contained/isolated to that sub-level...meaning your lighting won't bleed over into other sub-levels. If you are using a consistent Post-Processing Volume that never really changes...put it on the Persistent Level (or another sub-level besides your Lighting Scenarios) and you should be good to go!

[@LDT7Y]

@@ThatRyanManning Ah ok, I didn't know about the lighting scenarios part! That's great, thank you for your help!

[@yevost6601]

waiting for ur next video

[@lebenin3604]

Great tutorial. Thank you. #UnrealEngineLighting

[@ItsNuree]

Ryan: "...amazing god rays" also Ryan: *hums/sings healing sound effects of classic RPG* love it XD

[@ThatRyanManning]

These are facts

[@philippeheritier9364]

I just started UE4 this week and it's very helpfull Many thanks How can i save it as a preset to use it back to an other scene ?

[@ThatRyanManning]

Easiest way would be to nest the components into a Blueprint.

[@todorv]

Great tutorial and very helpful. Do you have Ray Tracing enabled in the scene?

[@ThatRyanManning]

Nope. All traditional lighting principles without Raytracing.

[@ans068]

Thanks for the amazing tutorial - I got an issue with the skylight, when I tried to enable and disable skylight (affect world ) it's only taking latest enabled one, so i made one skylight to static and tried to bake but got a warning in log says two skylights won't work, please let me know how to fix this

[@joelambert7128]

Source angle is the angular size of the sun in the sky. A larger angular scale means softer shadows, as it would for a larger area light: it has nothing to do with atmospheric scattering.

[@ThatRyanManning]

Changing the Source Angle doesn't change the sun disk size or any size of the Sun for that matter. Adjusting the Source Angle on a Directional light is a simulation of the lights effective Penumbra. Thus, as you said, higher values means a more dispersed Penumbra and thus softer shadows. Conversely, a smaller Source Angle value will yield tighter, more crisp shadows.

[@jbach]

Thanks for sharing! Why not the new Sky Atmosphere instead of Atmospheric Fog?

[@denrunner7991]

Great video! I followed along with the Downtownwest map... Question, when I press Play in Selected Viewport or Simulate, the colors of shadows, and directional light change. The clouds also become reddish (even though I adjust the sun to be high in the sky, and refresh material on the skylight, the clouds don't change). But when I go back to the editor mode everything is back to normal and looks good like in your scene. Any thoughts?

[@ThatRyanManning]

When you press play, the level is loading the Lighting scenarios...aka, the ones we disabled at the start of the video. Just delete the sub-levels and you'll be fine.

[@denrunner7991]

@@ThatRyanManning Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I changed the streaming method of Daytime_Lighting to Blueprint instead of Always Loaded, and that fixed it.. sometimes unreal can be frustrating

[@crisislab]

Great tutorial. One thing keeps confusing me (in many tutorials): why use an HDRI for the Skylight, *and* a directional light for the Sun? The HDRI in the Skylight in theory has a Sun, right? With all the wonderful dynamic range so that its ratio of sun-to-fill is going to be natural right out of the box? I don't conceptually understand why we'd also have another 'Sun' on top of that.

[@ThatRyanManning]

Skylights, for performance reasons, don't cast light in the same fashion as other lights (ex: Directional Light). Caveat: you can have Skylights casting light when using Raytracing. If you think about it, casting light from a 360 degree sphere could tank your scene performance really quickly. This is why Skylights are used to cast lighting, but at a cheaper cost than an actual light(s). Because of the cheaper cost of a skylight, you want to use a directional light to fill in the remaining lit/shadowed areas. Thus using a Skylight for ambient lighting and a directional light for your main light allows you to have both aesthetics and performance for your scene. Hope that makes sense.

[@crisislab]

@@ThatRyanManning Thank you. These videos are great. As soon as I can carve out some time I'm in for your paid course. :)

[@shirleyma9643]

The video is amazing and I really appreciate that! Just one thing is that, when I add in the bp sky sphere and package for windows, it will gimme error of EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION of reading address. I did few round of testing, pretty sure it will only happen after I add in BP Sky. Could you plssss help me on this? I am using 4.26 btw

[@ThatRyanManning]

Hard to diagnose with just that. Would need to know more

[@gursimransingh8726]

a volumetric clouds tutorial pls

[@DiegoTorres-fh6xr]

Hi Ryan, im having troubles with the bp sky sphere because when i place it into the scene, it looks too dark, i cant see the clouds and the stars and when i change the sun height it doesn’t show me the “day” lighting”. Do you have any idea of what could be happening?