Golden Hour Cafe

Unreal Engine
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Personal Project

Lighting, Composition Practice

March 2023

Realtime rendering with Unreal Engine has always fascinated me. With the recent release of UE5.2, I was inspired to learn how to use this powerful tool to create a cafe at sunset. I used an asset pack to create the scene, and experimented with composition, a sun/sky system, HDRIs, and raytracing.

[data-wf-bgvideo-fallback-img] { display: none; } @media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) { [data-wf-bgvideo-fallback-img] { position: absolute; z-index: -100; display: inline-block; height: 100%; width: 100%; object-fit: cover; } }

Virtual Carbohydrates

I utilized Quixel Megascans in order to make this close-up shot of the bread in the cafe.

Hardware Raytracing
(Hover to compare)

In order to breathe more life into the scene, I utilized Raytracing to create accurate screen-space reflections inside the scene. While it had a small impact on performance, the scene still rendered in realtime.