Lighting Study 01
Real-time lighting and mood study in Unreal Engine — a night-lit coastal town where atmosphere is built with light, fog and a custom dust particle that reacts volumetrically to every light source.
A town built with light
A coastal town at night, lit entirely in real time: warm practicals guide the eye through streets and archways while cool ambient light keeps every silhouette readable. Fog and volumetrics tie the shots together.
Light-reactive dust particle
The fog and steam in this scene aren't post-processing — they're a custom particle whose material reacts to light volumetrically. Each sprite samples its own position and radius to build a spherical mask in world space, so the billboard fades softly at its edges and reads as a volume instead of a flat card.
The material (M_Dust_Particle) combines that SphereMask with a noise texture for internal break-up and multiplies everything by Particle Color, keeping the system lit-translucent: every lamp, window and bounce light tints the dust naturally, with no fake glow. The result is cheap, art-directable atmosphere that anchors the mood of the whole level.
