HOW TO ESTABLISH PAINTERLY LIGHTING

Lighting artist Philémon Caron shares how luminism-inspired techniques can help create atmospheric, painterly 3D environments

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In this workshop, we'll explore the process of relighting a 3D environment in Unreal Engine, taking inspiration from luminism and the Hudson River School.

Rather than aiming for strict realism, this project focuses on translating some painterly qualities of light into a digital space, with attention to atmosphere, emotion, and storytelling.

Luminism, a 19th-century art movement, is known for its serene landscapes, clear and tranquil light, and contemplative mood. Painters of the Hudson River School, such as Frederic Church and Albert Bierstadt, conveyed vastness and depth while maintaining calm and harmony. Here, we'll consider how some of those visual approaches - soft transitions, balanced compositions, and subtle interplay of light and atmosphere - can inform the lighting of a real-time environment.

We'll go through the main steps of preparing a scene, shaping light sources, balancing colour and contrast, and introducing atmospheric effects to unify the composition. Along the way, we'll discuss the artistic considerations behind each choice, offering suggestions and observations that you can adapt in your own work.

The goal is not to replicate a historic style perfectly, but to explore how lighting can extend beyond visibility and realism, serving as a tool to convey mood and engage the viewer in a thoughtful, immersive way.

1 Set up an Unreal Engine project

Before diving into lighting, it's important to properly set up your Unreal Engine project. In the Project Settings, enable Hardware Ray Tracing and tweak Lumen for higher quality results. Next, head to the Plugins menu to activate a few key tools that will be useful later on: Screen Space Fog Scattering, HDRI Backdrop and Movie Render Queue for final rendering.