Summary:

For a recent project, this work showcases lighting and time of day controls in different environments. Animated curves and color gradients drive global lighting properties for direct light, ambient, fog, reflection, and postprocessing features over a unitized period. As time ticks in the game, each custom-authored shader uses its PBR surface data in tandem with global light properties to compute its color output using a shared lighting function.

Lighting settings can be defined in scriptable objects for distinct looks and assigned to different zones in the game. And these settings can be blended dynamically based on player position to enhance immersion and bring life to the world.

I developed a script allowing artists to preview light region settings and time of day in the scene view window. This provided greater insight and control for artists as they iterated on models, textures, and material assets and their responses to various lighting scenarios.