Lumen at a glance

• Lumen integrates well with Nanite and Virtual Shadow Maps (VSM) tech.
• Lumen is a lighting system that provides two things:
  • Real-time dynamic global illumination (GI)
  • Dynamic reflections
• Lumen replaces:
  • Screen Space Global Illumination (SSGI)
  • Distance Field Ambient Occlusion (DFAO)
  • Screen Space Reflections (SSR)
    • You might notice SSR-looking effects but that is Lumen’s Screen Tracing at work
• Lumen requires a number of things to function properly:
  • Decent Mesh Distance Fields (proper thickness etc)
  • Surface Cache Cards
  • Correct albedo values (good brightness etc)
  • A real-time Skylight (for Distance Field Ambient Occlusion)

Good Lumen documentation can be found here:

Lumen Global Illumination and Reflections

Lumen Technical Details