Training
Lighting for videogames with Unreal Engine course
Welcome to our Lighting for Video Games with Unreal Engine course!
This program is designed for artists who want to master lighting in interactive environments and reach AAA industry standards. You’ll learn to work with professional workflows, from hybrid baked and dynamic rasterized lighting to Lumen, ray tracing, and path tracing—creating unique atmospheres and effectively guiding the player.
We’ll dive deep into Unreal Engine’s key tools, and through progressive practical exercises, you’ll apply everything you’ve learned in exclusive environments and cinematics, with professional support and feedback.
What will you learn?
Lighting is a key element in video games: it defines the final look, sets the right mood, and creatively guides the player.
In this course, you’ll learn all the workflows used in major studios—from hybrid baked and dynamic rasterized lighting to cutting-edge technologies like Lumen, ray tracing, and path tracing. We’ll also dive deep into how to balance environment lighting with player lighting (torches, flashlights, etc.), adapt artistic direction, and achieve strong visual composition.
You’ll master essential Unreal Engine tools such as Sky Atmosphere, Blueprint Lights, Light Mixer, Post Process Volumes, and Trigger Boxes, understanding how they’re used in production and how similar technologies work in other engines used by studios like Naughty Dog or Remedy.
This course will prepare you to work in the AAA industry, whether or not you have prior experience. With the growing demand for lighting artists in video games, it will give you the solid foundation you need to make your first professional leap.
PROJECTS
Scenes of the course
Exclusive scenes of the course
- Meet the mentor
Juan Ocamica
My name is Juan Ocamica, and I’m a Lighting Artist. Over the past 6 years, I’ve had the honor of working on several AAA video games such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Indiana Jones and the Order of the Giants, Divine Knockout, Tempest Rising… as well as on audiovisual projects like Rewind Hispano and various multimedia commercials.
I’m currently working as a Lighting Artist at MachineGames, one of Microsoft’s core studios. I’ve also had the opportunity to work at other prestigious studios such as Hi-Rez Studios and Slipgate Ironworks, among others, using both public (Unity and Unreal Engine) and proprietary software (Id Tech, etc.).
Ever since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by lighting, colors, and cinematography in films and video games. Being able to work on productions that I once enjoyed as a player and viewer is truly a dream come true.
Now, I’m excited to share all the knowledge and professional experience I’ve gained over the years, to clearly convey the challenges and methodologies used in the AAA industry.
Experience
Projects I have worked on
Level
No prior knowledge of Unreal or lighting is required, though having a basic understanding of 3D is recommended. We’ll start from the very beginning, learning everything Unreal offers in terms of lighting, how to use its tools, and understanding what each of them does.
Unreal Engine is an industry standard in the video game world, and more and more globally renowned companies are adopting it — with CD PROJEKT RED being one of the most recent examples.
Demo lessons
If you want to get a glimpse of the course from the inside, you can watch the first demo lesson here:
Final project
- Light prototyping in a grey box environment.
- Re-lighting one of three environments using hybrid baked lighting, with “hope” and “horror” themes.
- Advanced three-part exercise: full lighting of two environments using AAA workflows, plus two re-lightings of the exclusive Japanese temple scene to refine lighting composition.
- Lighting two cinematics: the first focuses on optimizing environment and scene lighting using AAA workflows, and the second on pushing a single shot to the highest level with the exclusive Kylo Ren scene.
You’ll receive continuous support via Discord and professional feedback throughout the entire process.
Why choose us?
Professional mentors
Our team is made of industry professionals with years of experience at leading animation and video game studios such as MachineGames, Microsoft, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and more.
Learning by doing
Learn through hands-on projects and real-time exercises to develop skills that are directly applicable to the real world.
Personalized feedback
You’ll receive feedback from the instructor to gain valuable insights and personalized guidance, helping you refine your techniques and elevate your work.
Networking and community
Connect with other video game enthusiasts, expand your professional network, and collaborate on exciting projects.
Continuous updating
Stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies in the world of video games.
Lighting for videogames course
450€ + VAT (for people in UE)
- Access to the community.
- Over +30h of recorded lessons
- Group chat with the mentor.
- Daily feedback and Corrections on chat
- Exclusive scenes