Chapter 4. Material and Light
In this chapter, we will learn in detail about the materials and the lights in Unreal Engine 4. We have grouped both Material and Light together in this chapter because how an object looks is largely determined by both—material and lighting.
Material is what we apply to the surface of an object and it affects how the object looks in the game. Material/Shader programming is a hot ongoing research topic as we always strive to improve the texture performance—seeking higher graphic details/realism/quality with limited CPU/GPU rendering power. Researchers in this area need to find ways to make the models we have in a game look as real as possible, with as little calculations/data size as possible.
Lighting is also a very powerful tool in world creation. There are many uses of light. Lights can create a mood for the level. When effectively used, it can be used to focus attention on objects in the level and guide players through your level. Light...
