Locking the Palettes
Atmospheric lighting needs consistent colour across every phase of the day. We locked down six baseline lighting states to drive sky gradients, terrain ambient, and surface reflections.
Each condition establishes a distinct balance:
Midday: High overhead key light with clear, neutral water surface reflection.
Afternoon: Warm, low-angled directional sun casting longer highlights.
Dusk: Deep amber along the horizon paired with violet ambient fill.
Blue Hour: Soft indigo skylight holding the transition into full darkness.
Midnight: Balanced moonlight tuned so ground and water stay legible.
Heavy Rain: Desaturated overcast skylight with flattened diffuse lighting.
Testing Against Painted Backdrops
A lighting palette can look balanced on a flat shader test and fail against painted art. We tested our lighting values against painted backdrop probes across different camera pitches and yaw rotations.
Night ambient required careful tuning. Water surfaces turned to black ink if ambient light dropped too low, but lifting it washed out the dark. Comparing probe sheets across iterations gave us a clear baseline that holds across clear nights, cloudy skies, and rain.
Let me know if this looks good!
