Real-time lighting (with Lumen)

The Lumen system is remarkably user-friendly and feels intuitive, even for those transitioning from offline renderers. Unreal Engine 5 has truly revolutionized rendering with this approach. Usually enabled by default, you only need to verify its functionality and access its primary settings to maximize its potential.

Enabling Lumen

By default, it is enabled in all Unreal Engine 5 templates, and the optimal settings are already implemented using Archviz templates, which we covered in Chapter 1. However, it is worth knowing these settings for the purpose of conserving resources. Please refer to the accompanying screenshot for more information:

Figure 5.25: Lumen project settings

Make sure Default RHI is set to DirectX 12. There are two tracing options available for you to choose from: global and detail tracing. The former helps in saving on performances while the latter is turned on by default. Additionally, it is recommended...