Baked Lightmaps vs Lumen for Videogames Unreal Engine 5.2
Lumen Technology VS Baked Lightmaps for Videogames
Download standalone at this link below file size is zipped around 4GB
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MocmBamRLbQ7h49v3tl49fhTjtCMGnPU/view?usp=sharing
My personal specs workstation Specs are RTX4090 -128GB DDR4 RAM – Processor 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13900KF, 24 Core(s), 32 Logical Processor(s)
I created this project to show the difference and the quality we will achieve using Unreal Engine 5.2 Lumen technology versus baked lightmaps.
You are asking why bake lights if we could have all in realtime using Lumen technology?
The answer is it all depends on where you are targeting the game and performance. Is it only for next gen consoles such as XboxseriesX / Playstation5 and PC then Lumen is the correct choice. If instead you want to bring the game to run on lower spec consoles but to always have a great visual and performance, then baked lightmaps is the choice.
In this project I wanted to see the performance and quality on both Lumen VS Baked.
For Visuals they both are very similar, but we could notice some more details in shadows on close ups for the baked version, and also they both differ for performance.
The Lumen realtime at 4k native hits 80fps with Nanite enabled on all assets, Reflections Lumen and use Hardware Ray Tracing enabled in project settings.
The baked version 4k Native hits more than 140fps
For both versions the assets are mid high poly with 2k textures. Composition set dressing was created using a combination of Quixel Megascans assets and materials, others are from Marketplace for more info see below screenshots.
PREPARING LIGHTMAPS BAKING SETTINGS
Scene was lit using: Directional Light, Sky Atmosphere, Sky Light and Exponential Volumetric Fog
Enabled Distance Field Meshes in Project Settings.
1. Verify that all the window openings have placed portals.
2. Insert Lightmass Importance Volume
3. Insert reflection probes.
4. Verify each asset lightmap density resolution and that UV maps are correct.
5. Verify overall performance and that radius of each light does not overlap especially if set to stationary.
6. Insert PPV (Post Process Volume) and enable Infinite Extent (Unbound)
Ingame baked Lihtmaps Unreal Engine 5.2
Running on pc handheld oneplayerx mini with integrated graphics
Lumen realtime version Unreal Engine 5.2
The Cons of baked lightmaps is that you cannot move any Static assets or it will break the lighting information and will need to rebake the entire scene. Also important to check the light complexity to target performance.
The pro of using realtime Lumen is that moving any assets it is all in realtime so no need to bake.
Local Exposure is a new great feature that will work for baked and realtime with Unreal Engine 5.1 and 5.2
Setting I used for Lighting / Post Process Volume and Lightmass
Setting I used for Lighting / Post Process Volume and Lightmass
To bake lightmaps with Unreal Engine 5.2 make sure that in your project settings you set GI to none and reflections to screenspace. Also use Shadowmaps.
Assets used for the scene
Comparison screenshots Baked Lightmaps (top one) VS Lumen (bottom one)
Comparison screenshots Baked Lightmaps (top one) VS Lumen (bottom one)
Comparison screenshots Baked Lightmaps (top one) VS Lumen (bottom one)
Comparison screenshots Baked Lightmaps (top one) VS Lumen (bottom one)
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2
Final Baked Lightmaps Version Unreal Engine 5.2