This project was developed as a real-time lighting and material study in Unreal Engine 4, with all shots rendered directly in-engine using UE4 Ray Tracing. Two visual variations were created using Substance Suite, allowing for controlled exploration of surface response, roughness balance, and color behavior under identical lighting conditions. Rather than relying on offline rendering, the project emphasizes real-time fidelity and lighting accuracy within a game-engine workflow.

The lighting direction focused on physically motivated illumination and clear visual hierarchy. Ray-traced reflections, shadows, and global illumination were used to enhance depth and realism, particularly in how light interacts with organic surfaces and small-scale detail. Key and fill lights were carefully balanced to preserve form readability while avoiding overly harsh contrast, ensuring that each shot maintains a cinematic tone without sacrificing material clarity.

Material work played a central role in shaping the final look. Using Substance Suite, textures were authored to respond naturally to dynamic lighting—subtle roughness variation, specular breakup, and color modulation were tuned to ensure believable interaction with ray-traced light. Assets sourced from Quixel Megascans were integrated and adjusted to maintain consistency across both versions, aligning scale, texture density, and shading behavior within the UE4 pipeline.

Creative Goals

• Explore real-time lighting direction using UE4 Ray Tracing
• Compare and refine material responses through multiple Substance-authored variations
• Achieve cinematic lighting quality while remaining fully in-engine

Outcome

The final result functions as a lighting-driven real-time showcase, demonstrating how modern game-engine tools can deliver high-quality visual results traditionally associated with offline rendering. By combining Substance-authored materials, ray-traced lighting, and carefully directed illumination, the project highlights a workflow where lighting, material design, and real-time performance converge into a cohesive visual statement.