This guide walks you through creating realistic environment lighting in Cry Engine, from setting up your scene to fine-tuning light properties. You’ll learn essential techniques to enhance atmosphere, improve visibility, and bring your game world to life with professional-quality lighting.
Key Takeaways
- Understand environment lighting basics: Learn how ambient and directional lights shape the mood and visibility in your Cry Engine scene.
- Use the Time of Day system: Master dynamic lighting changes by adjusting sun position, color, and intensity over time.
- Optimize light settings for performance: Balance visual quality and frame rate by tweaking shadow resolution and light range.
- Apply light probes for realism: Use light probes to capture and blend lighting across complex environments.
- Troubleshoot common lighting issues: Fix problems like overexposure, dark shadows, or missing reflections with proven solutions.
- Enhance atmosphere with fog and color grading: Combine lighting with environmental effects for immersive visuals.
- Test in different conditions: Always preview your lighting in various times of day and weather to ensure consistency.
Introduction: Why Environment Lighting Matters in Cry Engine
Lighting is one of the most powerful tools in game development. It sets the tone, guides the player’s attention, and brings your virtual world to life. In Cry Engine, creating a convincing environment light isn’t just about placing a sun in the sky—it’s about crafting an immersive experience that feels natural and dynamic. Whether you’re building a lush forest, a futuristic city, or a desolate wasteland, proper lighting can make or break the atmosphere.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to create an environment light in Cry Engine from scratch. We’ll cover everything from basic setup to advanced techniques like time-of-day cycles and light probes. By the end, you’ll be able to design lighting that not only looks great but also performs well across different hardware. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Setting Up Your Scene in Cry Engine
Before adding any lights, make sure your scene is ready. Open Cry Engine and load your level or create a new one. A clean, organized scene makes lighting easier to manage and troubleshoot.
Visual guide about How to Create an Environment Light in Cry Engine
Image source: gamingbolt.com
Import or Build Your Environment
If you’re using custom assets, import them via the Asset Browser. Ensure your terrain, buildings, and props are properly scaled and positioned. Misaligned geometry can cause lighting artifacts like dark spots or incorrect shadows.
Enable the Time of Day System
Cry Engine’s Time of Day system is essential for realistic environment lighting. Go to the Environment panel (usually on the right side of the editor) and click the Time of Day tab. Enable it if it’s not already active. This system controls the sun, sky color, and ambient lighting dynamically.
Set Initial Time and Weather
Start with a midday setting—around 12:00 PM—so you can see how direct sunlight interacts with your scene. Adjust the sun’s altitude and azimuth to control its position. For a clear day, keep cloud cover low and visibility high.
Step 2: Adding and Configuring the Sun Light
The sun is the primary source of environment light in most outdoor scenes. Cry Engine treats it as a directional light, meaning it casts parallel rays across the entire level.
Access the Sun Settings
In the Time of Day panel, you’ll find sliders for Sun Intensity, Sun Color, and Sun Direction. These control how bright and warm the sunlight appears. Start with an intensity of 1.0 and a color temperature around 5500K (daylight white).
Adjust Sun Position and Angle
Use the Sun Elevation and Sun Rotation controls to simulate different times of day. A low sun (near sunrise or sunset) creates long shadows and warm tones, while a high sun produces sharp, bright lighting. Experiment with these settings to find the mood you want.
Enable Shadows
Make sure Sun Shadows are enabled in the Rendering settings. Set the shadow map resolution to at least 2048×2048 for crisp shadows. Higher resolutions look better but use more GPU power—adjust based on your target platform.
Step 3: Enhancing Ambient Lighting
While the sun provides direct light, ambient lighting fills in the shadows and adds depth. Without it, your scene can look flat and unrealistic.
Use Sky Light for Global Illumination
Cry Engine’s Sky Light simulates light bouncing off the sky and surrounding environment. In the Environment panel, increase the Sky Light Intensity to around 0.3–0.5. This softens shadows and adds a natural glow.
Adjust Ambient Color and Brightness
Under Ambient Lighting, tweak the color to match your scene. A blue tint works well for outdoor scenes, while warmer tones suit indoor or sunset environments. Keep the brightness low—too much ambient light washes out contrast.
Enable Image-Based Lighting (IBL)
For even more realism, use IBL with a high-dynamic-range image (HDRI). Go to Environment > Image-Based Lighting and load an HDRI skybox. This provides realistic reflections and ambient lighting based on real-world data.
Step 4: Using Light Probes for Dynamic Objects
Static objects receive baked lighting, but dynamic objects (like characters or moving vehicles) need real-time lighting. That’s where light probes come in.
Place Light Probes Strategically
In the RollupBar, go to Objects > Environment > Light Probe. Place probes in key areas—near characters, inside buildings, or under trees. Each probe captures the local lighting environment.
Configure Probe Settings
Select a probe and adjust its Radius to cover the area it should influence. Larger radii work for open spaces; smaller ones are better for tight corridors. Enable Specular and Diffuse contributions for full lighting effects.
Update Probes After Changes
After moving lights or geometry, right-click the probe and select Update. This ensures dynamic objects receive accurate lighting. For large levels, use probe groups to manage multiple probes efficiently.
Step 5: Fine-Tuning with Post-Effects and Fog
Lighting doesn’t stop at the light source. Post-processing effects can dramatically enhance the final look.
Apply Color Grading
Go to PostFX > Color Correction and load a LUT (Look-Up Table) or adjust sliders manually. Warm tones for sunset scenes, cool tones for overcast days. This unifies the color palette and boosts mood.
Add Atmospheric Fog
In the Environment panel, enable Volumetric Fog. Adjust density, height, and color to simulate mist, haze, or pollution. Fog adds depth and makes distant objects fade naturally, improving performance and realism.
Use Bloom and Lens Flares
Enable Bloom under PostFX to make bright lights glow softly. Add subtle lens flares for the sun, but use sparingly—too much looks fake. These effects sell the intensity of your environment light.
Step 6: Testing and Optimizing Your Lighting
Great lighting looks good and runs smoothly. Always test your scene on target hardware.
Preview in Different Times of Day
Use the Time of Day slider to simulate dawn, noon, dusk, and night. Check for overexposed skies, crushed shadows, or missing reflections. Adjust sun intensity and ambient levels as needed.
Monitor Performance
Open the Performance Monitor (press Ctrl+Shift+M) to check frame rate and GPU usage. High shadow resolutions and many light probes can slow things down. Lower settings if needed, especially for mobile or console builds.
Use the Debug Views
Cry Engine offers debug modes like Lighting Only or Shadow Maps. These help spot issues like light leaks or incorrect shadow casting. Press F11 to cycle through views.
Troubleshooting Common Lighting Issues
Even experienced developers run into lighting problems. Here’s how to fix the most common ones.
Problem: Scene Looks Too Dark
Solution: Increase sun intensity or ambient lighting. Check that your sky light is enabled and not set too low. Also, ensure your exposure settings in PostFX > HDR aren’t underexposing the scene.
Problem: Shadows Are Blocky or Flickering
Solution: Raise the shadow map resolution. If flickering persists, adjust the Shadow Bias in the sun settings. Too low a bias causes “shadow acne”; too high causes “peter-panning.”
Problem: Dynamic Objects Look Flat
Solution: Make sure light probes are placed correctly and updated. If objects still look dark, increase the probe’s diffuse intensity or add a local fill light.
Problem: Overexposed Sky or Washed-Out Colors
Solution: Lower the sun intensity or adjust the HDR Exposure settings. Use color grading to restore contrast and saturation.
Conclusion: Mastering Environment Lighting in Cry Engine
Creating an environment light in Cry Engine is both an art and a science. It requires understanding how light behaves in the real world and how to simulate it efficiently in a game engine. By following this guide, you’ve learned to set up the sun, enhance ambient lighting, use light probes, and apply post-effects—all while keeping performance in mind.
Remember, great lighting is subtle. It shouldn’t distract—it should immerse. Test often, tweak carefully, and always consider the mood you want to create. With practice, you’ll be able to craft stunning environments that feel alive and believable. Now go light up your world!