This is the documentation for Enlighten.

Artist workflow

To get the best results with Enlighten it's essential to provide a good workflow for the artist.

This section describes a workflow within a world editor that the artist can use to edit and preview the game world. 

The Unreal Editor and the Unity Editor are both good examples of a world editor. To minimize iteration time, the editor preview shows the world as it would appear in the game, and there is no delay between making a change and seeing the effect.

To allow the artist to iterate easily on both the Enlighten configuration and the final lighting, we recommend to provide the workflow described below.

As the artist:

1. Configure your scene for the best results with the Enlighten precompute. To do this:

  1. Make sure each engine mesh is configured with the appropriate radiosity properties: for example, whether they're lit with lightmaps or probes.
  2. Check that engine meshes lit with Enlighten lightmaps have efficient simplified Enlighten UVs.
  3. Choose an appropriate Enlighten lighting resolution for each part of the world.
  4. Optional: place Enlighten probes to provide lighting for moving objects. 
  5. Optional: place local reflection probes to cover each part of the world.

2. Run the Enlighten precompute to generate the Enlighten runtime data.

3. Check that the Enlighten lighting resolution is sufficient. To do this:

  1. Add a bright sky light source to the scene.
  2. Set the preview to draw the scene using a material with high roughness.
  3. Check for and resolve lighting issues.
  4. Check for unwanted sky light leaking from bright outdoor areas into dark indoor areas.

4. Optional: check that local reflection probes are placed to cover the world. To do this:

  1. Set the preview to draw the scene using a material with zero roughness.
  2. Check for areas with missing or incorrect local reflections.

5. Light the scene with instant feedback for all lighting and material changes.

  • Add light sources, materials and post-process effects
  • Continue to iterate until you achieve the look you want.

6. Optional: run the Enlighten bake to generate high-quality baked direct and indirect lighting for light sources that don't move.

To minimize iteration time, it's best if the artist can perform all of the workflow steps within your world editor.