How to Build Lighting Unreal Engine 5

This guide teaches you how to build lighting in Unreal Engine 5 using the latest tools like Lumen and Virtual Shadow Maps. You’ll learn to create realistic, performance-friendly lighting setups for games, films, and interactive experiences.

Key Takeaways

• Use Lumen for dynamic global illumination: Lumen delivers real-time, high-quality lighting without baking, ideal for open worlds and changing environments.
• Optimize with Lightmass for static scenes: When performance is critical, precomputed lighting via Lightmass ensures consistent quality with lower runtime cost.
• Master lighting types and placement: Directional, point, spot, and sky lights each serve unique roles—learn when and how to use them effectively.
• Leverage Virtual Shadow Maps (VSM): VSM provides crisp, scalable shadows in large scenes, reducing artifacts and improving visual fidelity.
• Balance quality and performance: Adjust lighting settings based on platform—consoles, PC, or mobile—to maintain smooth frame rates.
• Use post-process effects wisely: Bloom, ambient occlusion, and color grading enhance lighting but can impact performance if overused.
• Test and iterate in real time: Use Unreal’s viewport tools and console commands to preview and refine lighting quickly.

Introduction: Why Lighting Matters in Unreal Engine 5

Lighting is one of the most powerful tools in a creator’s arsenal. In Unreal Engine 5, it’s not just about making your scene visible—it’s about telling a story, setting a mood, and guiding the player’s eye. Whether you’re building a haunting horror game, a vibrant open world, or a cinematic cutscene, how to build lighting in Unreal Engine 5 can make or break your project.

In 2026, Unreal Engine 5 has evolved significantly, with Lumen and Nanite leading the charge in next-gen visuals. Lumen, the dynamic global illumination system, allows for real-time lighting that reacts to changes in the environment—no more waiting hours for lightmap bakes. Combined with Virtual Shadow Maps and improved Lightmass settings, UE5 offers unprecedented control over lighting quality and performance.

This guide will walk you through every step of building professional-grade lighting in Unreal Engine 5. From setting up your first light to optimizing for different platforms, you’ll learn practical techniques used by top studios. By the end, you’ll be able to create immersive, visually stunning environments that run smoothly across devices.

Understanding Unreal Engine 5 Lighting Systems

Before diving into the how-to, it’s important to understand the core lighting systems in UE5. These tools work together to deliver realistic lighting with minimal performance cost.

Lumen: Real-Time Global Illumination

Lumen is Unreal Engine 5’s flagship lighting feature. It provides real-time global illumination and reflections, meaning light bounces naturally off surfaces without pre-baking. This is perfect for dynamic scenes where lights or objects move—like a character walking through a forest at dusk.

Lumen uses software ray tracing andSigned Distance Fields (SDFs) to calculate lighting on the fly. It works best with Nanite geometry, which allows for highly detailed meshes without performance penalties. In 2026, Lumen has become even more efficient, supporting larger worlds and more complex lighting scenarios.

Lightmass: Precomputed Lighting for Static Scenes

While Lumen is great for dynamic lighting, Lightmass is still essential for static scenes where lighting doesn’t change. Lightmass bakes lighting into lightmaps, storing data about how light interacts with surfaces. This reduces runtime cost, making it ideal for mobile platforms or scenes with many static objects.

Lightmass is especially useful for architectural visualization or linear storytelling where lighting remains constant. It produces soft shadows and realistic ambient occlusion, giving your scene a polished, cinematic look.

Virtual Shadow Maps (VSM)

Shadows are just as important as light. Virtual Shadow Maps in UE5 deliver high-resolution shadows across vast distances. Unlike traditional shadow maps that degrade with distance, VSM uses a virtualized approach to maintain crisp shadows even in massive open worlds.

VSM works seamlessly with both Lumen and Lightmass. It’s a key reason why UE5 can render photorealistic environments without sacrificing performance.

Setting Up Your Project for Lighting

Before placing your first light, you need to configure your project settings for optimal lighting performance and quality.

Enable Lumen and Nanite

Start by ensuring Lumen and Nanite are enabled in your project. These are essential for modern UE5 lighting.

• Go to Edit > Project Settings > Rendering.
• Under Global Illumination, set Dynamic Global Illumination Method to Lumen.
• Under Reflections, set Reflection Method to Lumen.
• Enable Virtual Shadow Maps under the Shadows section.
• Make sure Nanite is enabled in your project settings and that your meshes support it.

These settings ensure you’re using the latest lighting tech. If you’re targeting older hardware, you may need to fall back to Lightmass or lower-quality settings.

Choose the Right Project Template

When creating a new project, select a template that supports high-end rendering. The Games > Third Person or Film/Video & Live Events templates are great starting points. They come with pre-configured lighting and post-process settings.

Avoid mobile or low-end templates unless you’re specifically targeting those platforms. They often disable Lumen and Nanite by default.

Placing and Configuring Lights

Now that your project is set up, it’s time to add lights. UE5 offers several light types, each with unique properties.

Directional Light: Simulating the Sun

The Directional Light is the most important light in outdoor scenes. It mimics the sun, casting parallel rays across your entire level.

• Drag a Directional Light from the Place Actors panel into your scene.
• Rotate it to match the time of day. For sunrise, angle it low; for midday, point it straight down.
• In the Details panel, set Intensity to around 5.0–10.0 (measured in lux).
• Enable Atmosphere Sun Light if you’re using the Sky Atmosphere system for realistic sky and fog.

Tip: Use the Sun Position tool (found in the toolbar) to automatically adjust the Directional Light based on geographic location and time of day.

Sky Light: Capturing Ambient Light

The Sky Light captures the color and brightness of the sky and applies it to your scene. It’s essential for realistic ambient lighting.

• Add a Sky Light actor to your level.
• Set Source Type to SLS Captured Scene to use the current sky.
• Enable Real Time Capture so the Sky Light updates as the Directional Light moves.

For indoor scenes, you can use a Cube Map or HDRI as the source. Import an HDRI texture and assign it to the Sky Light for studio-quality ambient lighting.

Point and Spot Lights: Adding Local Illumination

Point and Spot Lights are used for localized lighting—lamps, streetlights, or torches.

• Point Light: Emits light in all directions. Great for ceiling lights or glowing orbs.
• Spot Light: Emits light in a cone. Ideal for flashlights, stage lights, or focused illumination.

When placing these lights:

• Adjust the Intensity and Attenuation Radius to control how far the light reaches.
• Use Light Color to match the mood—warm yellow for cozy interiors, cool blue for sci-fi scenes.
• Enable Cast Shadows for realism, but be mindful of performance.

Tip: Use IES Profiles (photometric data) to simulate real-world light fixtures. These add realistic falloff and beam patterns.

Using Lumen for Dynamic Lighting

Lumen is where UE5 truly shines. Let’s walk through how to use it effectively.

Enable Lumen in Your Scene

As mentioned earlier, Lumen should already be enabled in your project settings. But you can fine-tune it per scene.

• Select your Level in the World Outliner.
• In the Details panel, under Lighting, ensure Dynamic Global Illumination is set to Lumen.
• Check that Lumen Global Illumination and Lumen Reflections are both enabled.

Adjust Lumen Settings

Lumen has several quality settings. For most projects, the default settings work well, but you can tweak them for better performance or visuals.

• Go to Edit > Project Settings > Rendering > Lumen.
• Final Gather Quality: Higher values improve lighting accuracy but cost performance. Use 4–8 for most scenes.
• Screen Space Tracing: Enable this for faster performance on lower-end hardware.
• Hardware Ray Tracing: If your GPU supports it, enable this for the best quality.

Tip: Use the console command r.Lumen.DiffuseIndirect.Denoiser 1 to reduce noise in Lumen lighting. Press ~ to open the console and type the command.

Test Lumen in Real Time

One of Lumen’s biggest advantages is real-time feedback. Move lights or objects around, and the lighting updates instantly.

• Use the Play button to test in-editor gameplay.
• Walk around your level and observe how light bounces and shadows change.
• If lighting looks too dark or noisy, increase the light intensity or adjust Lumen settings.

Example: In a forest scene, moving a character through dappled sunlight should create dynamic highlights and shadows—Lumen handles this beautifully.

Baking Lighting with Lightmass

For static scenes or mobile platforms, Lightmass is still a powerful tool.

Prepare Your Scene for Baking

Lightmass works best with static geometry. Ensure your meshes are set to Static (not Movable) in the Mobility settings.

• Select all static meshes in your level.
• In the Details panel, set Mobility to Static.
• Make sure Generate Lightmap UVs is enabled for each mesh.

Tip: Use the Build > Build Lighting Only option to bake lighting without rebuilding geometry.

Configure Lightmass Settings

Lightmass has several quality settings that affect bake time and visual quality.

• Go to Window > World Settings > Lightmass.
• Static Lighting Level Scale: Lower values increase quality but take longer to bake. Use 2–4 for most scenes.
• Num Indirect Lighting Bounces: Higher values create more realistic light bounces. Start with 4–6.
• Environment Intensity: Controls how much ambient light affects the scene. Adjust based on your Sky Light.

Bake and Review

Once settings are configured, bake your lighting.

• Click Build > Build Lighting.
• Wait for the process to complete—this can take minutes to hours depending on scene complexity.
• Review the results. Look for soft shadows, realistic color bleeding, and smooth gradients.

If lighting looks too dark or patchy, increase the Indirect Lighting Intensity in your lights or adjust Lightmass settings.

Optimizing Lighting for Performance

Great lighting shouldn’t come at the cost of performance. Here’s how to keep your scene running smoothly.

Use Lumen on High-End Platforms

Lumen is resource-intensive. Use it on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, or high-end mobile devices.

• For consoles and PC, keep Lumen enabled with medium to high settings.
• On mobile, consider disabling Lumen and using Lightmass or baked lighting instead.

Reduce Shadow Complexity

Shadows can be a major performance drain. Use these tips to optimize:

• Lower the Shadow Map Resolution on distant lights.
• Use Cascaded Shadow Maps (CSM) for Directional Lights to improve shadow quality at distance.
• Disable shadows on small or distant objects.

Leverage Level Streaming

In large open worlds, use Level Streaming to load and unload sections of your map. This reduces the number of lights and shadows rendered at once.

Example: In a city scene, only load lighting for the district the player is in. This keeps performance stable.

Enhancing Lighting with Post-Process Effects

Post-process effects can dramatically improve the look of your lighting.

Add a Post Process Volume

• Drag a Post Process Volume into your scene.
• Check Unbound so it affects the entire level.
• Adjust settings like Exposure, Bloom, and Color Grading.

Use Bloom for Glowing Lights

Bloom makes bright lights glow, adding realism.

• In the Post Process Volume, increase Bloom Intensity.
• Adjust Bloom Threshold to control which lights glow.

Apply Ambient Occlusion

Ambient occlusion darkens crevices and corners, adding depth.

• Enable SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion) in the Post Process Volume.
• Or use Lumen Ambient Occlusion for higher quality.

Troubleshooting Common Lighting Issues

Even with the best tools, lighting can sometimes go wrong. Here’s how to fix common problems.

Lighting Looks Too Dark

• Check light intensity and color.
• Ensure Lumen or Lightmass is enabled.
• Increase Indirect Lighting Intensity in your lights.

Shadows Are Blocky or Pixelated

• Increase shadow map resolution.
• Enable Virtual Shadow Maps.
• Move the light closer to the object.

Lighting Doesn’t Update in Real Time

• Make sure Lumen is enabled.
• Check that lights are set to Movable.
• Restart the editor if changes aren’t applying.

Performance Drops in Large Scenes

• Use Level Streaming.
• Reduce the number of dynamic lights.
• Lower Lumen or shadow quality settings.

Conclusion: Mastering Lighting in Unreal Engine 5

Learning how to build lighting in Unreal Engine 5 is a journey, but with the right tools and techniques, you can create stunning, immersive environments. Whether you’re using Lumen for dynamic scenes or Lightmass for static ones, UE5 gives you the power to bring your vision to life.

Remember to balance quality and performance, test often, and iterate based on feedback. Lighting isn’t just technical—it’s artistic. Use it to guide emotion, highlight important elements, and make your world feel alive.

In 2026, Unreal Engine 5 continues to push the boundaries of real-time graphics. By mastering its lighting systems, you’ll be ready to create the next generation of games, films, and interactive experiences.