I decided to have a look into how I could create Volumetric light within Unreal Engine 4. The three mains types of dynamic lighting that I could discover is, setting up light rays or as some call them ‘God Rays’. Next up is the use of light emitting from particle effects to create light. Finally, I also looked into light diffusion into a dark room and seeing how the dispersion looks.
Below are a few images of the results I came up with. Considering that I am still very new to using Unreal software I would say I am reasonably happy with the results. There is still a large area for improvement too but these experiments are a good step in the right direction.
To create theses lighting effects I had to make a dark room to prevent lighting entering the room. The only hole was the window which I used for the Lights Rays.
Volumetric God Rays
I created these light rays by using a directional light with light shaft bloom and then playing around with the setting until I was happy with how it looked. I found it difficult creating the lights shaft in a lit environment hence why I had to create a pitch black room with a small light.
Light Diffusion
This method of using light diffusion was quite simple to do and it had a very nice effect as I have full control over the colour, brightness, intensity and range of light diffusion. I plan on using this sort of light if I use computer screens or small lights part as part of a control panel
Particle effects
I tried out using the particle effects just to see what they were like. I don’t think I will use particle effects like fire in my final piece as it doesn’t fit the genre I have set to my work.
After conducting these test, I feel a lot more comfortable when it comes to using unreal to simulate light. For my apartment, I think that using point lights will be the best way to go as these mimic standard light bulbs. With the ability to fine tune the colour it will allow me to go into greater detail in my project.