Previewing your models with lighting

The purpose of this section is to show you some very basic lighting methods to use for previewing your 3D assets. In Chapter 10, Adding Lighting and Atmospheric Visual Effects in UE5, you will have an in-depth exploration of the subject of lighting.

To get started, let's add RobotDrone and AlienPlant Static Mesh models to the scene (World) to see how they look with the materials you've made. Then, we will adjust the lighting to achieve a more pleasing look:

Note

This part of the process will not be used in your final 3D movie set, since we are using this step to preview what the materials look like on your models.

1. Left-click and drag the RobotDrone model (Static Mesh) from the asset view area of Content Browser into the Viewport. Let go of the left mouse button when you are happy with the position of the model in the World.
2. With the Robot Drone still selected, look inside the Details panel. Under the Transform heading...