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Setting up projected lights - without seeing the light source


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Hi everyone,

I was wondering if the following scenario can be implemented/created in the editor:
Placing projected light  in the editor, so they cast light and shadows for dynamic objects, but the light source itself isn´t visible.

What´s the use case?
I want to set lights according to my needs inside an building, but I don´t want to see the light source in the reflections, because there will be 3D Models with emission materials for the lights - at least visually. The lights have to create shadows on dynamic objects which are passing by, so light baking alone isn´t the solution.

I can set the Shadow Mask, but this will only influence the shadows - not helping.
I can set the Viewport Mask, but changing it will lead to no visible light and shadows at all  - not helping.
Changing the Shape settings would also influence the cone of light - not helping

And after that I got out of ideas and haven´t found something in the forum or documentation which could help on this task.

Every idea on this will be appreciated! :)

Thanks and best regards
 

Edited by ShadowZelda
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@ShadowZelda Thank you for provided screenshots!

We have discussed this with our technical artists and actually there is no way to solve this due to limitations of the existing rendering pipeline - you can't see the light without seeing the source. Yes, technically it's possible to develop some kind of solution, but it would require writing a whole new shading system.

At the moment the only way to make reflection better requires to abandon area light (rectangle shape) and switch to default point instead. Yes, lights still be visible at reflection but overall result should be much better leaving only a small point from the light source.

Thanks!

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1 hour ago, ShadowZelda said:

@bmyagkov

Okay, thanks for the information!
Guess I will experiment then a little and look what suits the best in the end.

Thanks!

Truth be told using point lights for such a task it's default solution for any real time projects aimed on performance wise results :)

You can also put the light source slightly behind the mesh and finally get an extremely decent result:

image_2023_02_03T13_19_34_489Z.png

Please note that the sphere contains a probe configured to work in dynamic mode plus mesh with emission should be excluded from light source by masks.

Thanks!

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Hi. to hook in here.
But also the point lights have a source which is visible in the reflections. --- a point.

I once had the same issue. I think for artistic purposes it would be extremely important to have this possibility to create light sources, which are not visible as actual objects.

But thess objects are quite handy when you are simulating e.g. neon lights ;)

@ShadowZelda ... cant you position your lights in the place where your light objects are??

cheers. Werner

Edited by werner.poetzelberger
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