Sunlit Desert Lighting Study Made With UE5's Lumen

In this scene, which portrays a sunlit desert village with light bouncing everywhere and creating beautiful gradients, Lighting Artist Sergi Marín Cantó focused on creating an environment to explore Unreal Engine 5's Lumen, enhancing the global illumination of translucent tarps and highlighting the vivid colors in the composition.

Sergi de las Heras Dalmau provided the barrel and stool scans that made this environment feel alive. Here are a couple of in-progress shots shared by Sergi Marín Cantó, a debug view, and a test of a night setting for the environment inspired by astrophotography:

Last year, we had the opportunity to talk with Sergi Marín Cantó about his Abandoned House in Granada project, where he elaborated on his approaches to lighting and gradients:

Visit his ArtStation page for more great works, and if you're looking to get started with lighting or elevate your skills, we have a fantastic detailed article on the science of lighting for digital artists, focusing on its use in Unreal Engine, written by Arthur Tasquin:

Recently, we conducted plenty of interviews that focused on lighting techniques and the applications of Lumen in Unreal Engine 5, for example, Jhosep Chevarria's Cyberpunk Alley, Dawid Wrona's Last Drop jungle scene, or Annelien Heyninck's Subway Train Relight project, so check them out:

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