Real-Time Ray Tracing Rendering Configuration

Hello everyone, today I want to share with you a configuration that I have created for rendering images within Unreal Engine 5.3.

Introduction

Real-time ray tracing is a rendering technique that simulates the physical behavior of light to generate high-quality and realistic images. Although this technique has been used for a long time in the film and animation industry, its implementation in real-time for video games and interactive applications has been a challenge due to its high demand for computational resources.

My Configuration in Unreal Engine 5.3

Recently, I have been working on a custom configuration for real-time ray tracing in Unreal Engine 5.3. This configuration prioritizes quality over performance, thus allowing the creation of impressive scenes.

It’s important to mention that results may vary depending on the hardware capabilities available on the device where the project is being developed. In addition, the frame rate may be compromised depending on the number of assets used in the scene. Therefore, I would recommend adjusting the configuration according to your specific needs.

Here are the steps to implement my configuration:

Create New Project:

Games > Third Person Template > Ray Tracing Enable

Create New Level:

File > New Level Empty Level > Create

Save Level:

File > Save Current Level As > Save

Project Settings:

Project Section > Maps & Modes

Default Maps

• Editor Startup Map (Current Level)

Engine Section > Rendering Menu

Virtual Textures

• Enable Virtual Texture Support (On)
• Enable Virtual Texture Lightmaps (On)

Global Illumination

• Dynamic Global Illumination Method (None)

Reflections

• Reflection Method (Standalone Ray Traced)
• Reflection Capture Resolution (1024)

Lumen

• Use Hardware Ray Tracing when available (On)
• Ray Lighting Mode (Hit Lighting for Reflections)
• High Quality Translucency Reflections (On)
• Software Ray Tracing Mode (Detail Tracing)

Shadows

• Shadow Map Method (Virtual Shadow Maps)

Hardware Ray Tracing

• Support Hardware Ray Tracing (On)
• Ray Traced Shadows (On)

Software Ray Tracing

• Generate Mesh Distance Fields (On)

Default Settings

• Bloom (Off)
• Ambient Occlusion (Off)
• Ambient Occlusion Static Fraction AO for baked lighting (Off)
• Auto Exposure ( Off)

Mobile Shader Permutation Reduction

• Support CSM on levels with Force No Precomputed Lighting enabled (Off)

 Restart Project:

Save All > Close Editor (X) > Open Project

World Settings:

Lightmass > Advanced

• Force No Precomputed Lighting (On)

 Create Environment Lighting:

Window > Env. Light Mixer

• Create SkyAtmosphere

• Create Exponential Height Fog

• Create Atmospheric Light

Edit Environment Lighting:

Outliner > SkyAtmosphere > Details

Transforms

• Mobility (Movable)

Planet

• Ground Albedo > R (255) > G (255) > B (255)

Atmosphere - Rayleigh

• Rayleigh Scattering > R (1.0) > G (1.0) > B (1.0)

Atmosphere - Absorption

• Absorption > R (1.0) > G (1.0) > B (1.0)

Outliner > ExponentialHeightFog > Details

Transform

• Mobility (Movable)

Exponential Height Fog Component

• Fog Density (0.025)
• Fog Height Falloff (1.5)
• Fog Inscattering Color > R (750.0) > G (999.999939) > B (1500)
• Start Distance (1000.0)

Directional Inscatering

• Directional Inscattering Color > R (0.25) > G (0.25) > B (0.125)

Outliner > DirectionalLight > Details

Transform

• Mobility (Movable)

Light

• Intensity (1000)
• Use Temperature (On)
• Temperature (3687.936523)
• Advanced > Cast Ray Traced Shadows (Enabled)

Cascaded Shadow Maps

• Dynamic Shadow Distance MovableLight (20000.0)
• Num Dynamic Shadow Cascades (3)

Atmosphere and Cloud

• Atmosphere Sun Light (Off)

Actor

• Spawn Collision Handling Method (Always Spawn, Ignore Collisions)

Create Interior Light:

Quickly add to the project > Lights > RectLight

Edit Interior Light:

Outliner > RectLight > Details

Transform

• Mobility (Movable)

Light

• Intensity (1600.0)
• Attenuation Radius (Custom)
• Source Width (Custom)
• Source height (Custom)
• Barn Door Angle (90.0)
• Barn Door Length (1.0)
• Use Temperature (On)
• Temperature (5500.0)
• Advanced > Cast Ray Traced Shadows (Enabled)

Actor

• Spawn Collision Handling Method (Always Spawn, Ignore Collisions)

 Create Post Process Effects:

• Quickly add to the project > Volumes PostProcessVolume

• Quickly add to the project > Visual Effects Box Reflection Capture

 Edit Post Procces Effects:

Outliner > PostProcessVolume > Details

Lens

• Bloom

Method (Convolution)

Intensity (0.675)

• Exposure

Exposure Compensation (0.0)

Min EV100 (5.5)

Max EV100 (5.5)

• Lens Flares

Intensity (0.0)

• Image Effects

Vignette Intensity (0.0)

Color Grading

• Shadows

Shadows: Gain (On > 1.4)

Film

• Slope (0.8)
• Toe (0.55)
• Shoulder (0.26)

Global Illumination

• Method (Standalone Ray Traced)
• Ray Tracing Global Illumination
• Type (Brute Force)
• Max. Bounces (3)
• Samples Per Pixel (32)

Reflections

• Method (Standalone Ray Traced)
• Max Roughness (0.333)
• Max. Bounces (3)
• Samples Per Pixel (32)
• Shadows (Hard Shadows)

Brush Settings

• X (2000.0)
• Y (2000.0)
• Z (2000.0)

Actor

• Spawn Collision Handling Method (Always Spawn, Ignore Collisions)

Outliner > BoxReflectionCapture > Details

Reflection Capture

• Box Transition Distance (100.0)

Create Cameras:

Quickly add to project > Cinematic CinemaCameraActor

 Edit Cameras Outliner:

Outliner > CinemaCameraActor > Details

Current Camera Settings

• Filmback:

Super 35mm

35mm Academy

• Lens Settings:

50mm Prime f/1.8

30mm Prime f/1.4

12mm Prime f/2.8

• Crop Settings:

1.77 (16:9)

1.33 (4:3)

No Crop

• Focus Settings:

Custom manual

Toggle between the presented options of Filmback, Lens Settings and Crop Settigs for the different cameras.

Scability Settigns:

Settings > Engine Scalability Settings > Cinematic

Hight Resolution Screenshot:

Viewport Options > High Resolution Screenshot > Screenshot Size Multiplier (Custom)

Results and Conclusions

Since implementing this configuration, I have noticed a significant improvement in the quality of my renders, as well as more stable performance. I believe this configuration can be very useful for other developers looking to implement real-time ray tracing in their projects.

I hope this configuration is useful to you and helps you take your projects to the next level. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.