I’m sure this has been requested before, but as I’m lacking a different way to show my support for this feature I’m putting it here.
Lighting channels for sky lights would help immensely for streaming levels that include both outdoor and indoor environments. If I want to make my way from my open world out door environment that is brightly lit for daytime into a very dark cave, I currently don’t have good options. My only real solution is to dynamically change my skylight’s color/intensity or visibility when entering the cave.
I second this request. I’m sure it’s in the making but it’s been requested for years. Until then, dynamically changing the skylight is a workaround.
To make it seem natural it has to be more than a simple on/off switch with a box trigger. I set up a series of about 20 trigger panels and boxes. Each panel has an interpolation node that gradually and very slightly changes the skylight intensity as you venture deeper into the cave. I pass through each one about every second when walking and the interpolation changes the intensity about .05 -.25 with a one second timeline for each panel. (smaller increments are necessary as it gets darker since the intensity reaches pitch blackness very fast while nearing 0. My skylight is set at 4 for its brightest (daylight) and 0.1 for darkest (0 is pitch blackness but I like to leave a hint of light, while still necessary to use a torch).
The transition is virtually imperceptible as it happens very smoothly and stops when you stop walking. You can go back and forth at any point and it gets darker or brighter accordingly. I have it set up to adjust a modifier variable that works in cooperation with the day/night cycle which is constantly updating the skylight in the level blueprint. One big draw back is that the distance the row of panels covers has to be a fairly significant to seem natural and you can’t get the cave to look dark from the outside looking in or the outside world to be light while you are standing in darkness. I work around that by putting bends in the caves/passageways fairly close to the entrance so there aren’t any places where you can stand and see another area that would have drastically different lighting. I’d love to know if there are any other tricks to use until there is a better way implemented.
I would love to see this feature request added to the Unreal Issue Tracker so it can get some eyes on it.