Lighting Basics

Adding light to a level is one of the key steps of creating a beautiful and complete map. Lighting shouldn't be used solely to provide light to your work, but to create atmosphere, enhance textures, and complement textures.

Let There Be Light!

To add a light to your map do one of the following:

Right-click the surface you want the light to appear on, and select Surface Context Menu → Add Light here.
Hold down the L key and left-click in a 3D Viewport.

Positioning Lights

Once you have lights in a map you can duplicate them the same as any other actor. You can move the light easlily with Control + left mouse in the 2D viewports. It can also be moved in the 3D viewport, but the mouse control is a little more involved.

Approximate Versus Exact Light

Although lighting will appear to show while inserting lights into a map, the light is approximate should you change its properties or move it. To get a correct render of the lights, rebuild your map: click on the little 'lightBulb' icon in the UnrealEd toolbar.

Changing Light Properties

The procedure for changing a lights' property is:

Right-click the light and go to the Actor Properties Window
Expand the property
Drag the slider with the mouse or enter a number

Essential Properties

Summary here:

Property	Description	Location	UT	UT2k3
Radius	Changes the spherical area size the light can affect. The default light radius is 64 and is usually either too big or too small.	Lighting → LightRadius	*	*
Color & Brightness	Sets the light brightness, color and depth or richness the color. By clicking the Color button in the upper right corner of the key, a color can be selected visually.	LightColor → LightBrightness, LightHue, LightSaturation	*	*
Corona	Used to show a corona from the light source. Not to be mistaken for a Lens Flare.	Lighting → bCorona	*	*
Fog	Depth of vision per map or zone	Lighting → VolumeBright,VolumeFog,VolumeRadius	*	-
Special Lit	Allows a light to affect only certain surfaces. See special lit for more.	Lighting → SpecialLit	*	*
Light Types	shapes and movement	Lighting → LightType	*	projector
Light Effects	Modulates brightness	Lighting → LightEffect	*	projector
Light phase	Sets start of cycle for light animation. Used with LightEffects and LightTypes.	Lighting → bLightPhase	*	?
Cycled colors	Texture palette effect	location	*	?
Movable	Allows light to be movable when attached to a mover	Advanced → bMovable	*	*

Fool around with different values to achieve the look you desire. See Actor (UT)/Lighting to see all the property details that can be changed.

Things to write about (in here?)

Light types(cylinder)
Using in addition to fog

Comments

ViKTiM: I have found that a lot of lights with a colour saturation of 0 screw your frame rate considerably, USE THEM SPARINGLY!!

Tarquin: Great Should we link Actor/Lighting too?

Sobiwan: I dunno; I dont use UT2k3.

Shuriken: Half updated table for 2k3... don't do much lighting though, so don't know it all.