Eye-Dome Lighting (EDL) is a lighting model that accentuates the shapes of objects within a point cloud by grouping objects that are close together and shading their outlines, which enhances depth perception. EDL is implemented as a post-process Material and requires a Post Process Volume to work. It does not use any engine light sources, so it can be used with the unlit rendering method.
EDL can be used with Ambient Occlusion but this may produce an excessively dark image.
Steps
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Add a Post Process Volume to your Level. From the Place Actors panel, search for Post Process Volume and drag it into your Level.
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Select the Post Process Volume and, in its Details panel, scroll to the Rendering Features category.
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Expand Post Process Materials and click the plus (+) icon to add a new Material to the array.
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From the drop down-menu of the new Material you added, select Asset reference.
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Click the None dropdown. Then enable Engine Content and Plugin Content to be visible.
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Click the None dropdown menu again. Then, select one of the two following options:
- M_PP_EDL_MainPass - This will apply the EDL to every object in the Level, not just point clouds. If you only display point cloud elements, this is the recommended option.
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M_PP_EDL_CustomPass - This will apply the EDL only to objects using Custom Depth Pass. This option is recommended if you want to selectively apply EDL.
Enabling Custom Depth Pass will increase the performance cost.
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To apply the EDL to the whole Level, enable the Infinite Extent (Unbound) option on the post-processing volume.
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Result
EDL has been applied to the Level. Notice the change to edges of objects in the level and how this enhances depth perception.
