Lighting Realistic Rainy Weather in Unreal Engine 5 | The Gnomon Workshop

This 30-minute workshop offers a comprehensive breakdown of Ted Mebratu’s tried-and-tested workflow for quickly achieving an atmospheric rainy lighting scenario in Unreal Engine with Ultra Dynamic Sky. Ted guides artists through every step of the process, starting from scratch, to achieve the final look.

The workshop begins with the global setup, going over cloud coverage, fog density, and how to balance the Sky Light against the Directional Light to get a proper overcast read, before dialing in the exposure and color in a Post Process Volume so it sits right under Lumen. From there, Ted breaks down his thought process for setting up the character's lighting. Since the character is lit by an overcast sky, he explains how to add shape back in with a few Rect Light and Point Light fills that serve as ambient bounce without flattening the diffused look.

Ted also showcases various tools and techniques he uses to enhance the weather, such as rain drip splines for runoff, puddle volumes for placing standing water, and material integration that handles wetness, darkening, and roughness across the assets. In his experience, it’s these little details that sell the rain more than the falling particles do. To complete the tutorial, he reveals the settings he uses to export a sharp 8k 16-bit EXR render from the Movie Render Queue.

This short workshop is intended for intermediate to advanced artists who already have a general understanding of how lighting works in Unreal Engine 5. By completing this workshop, artists should have gained practical takeaways and techniques from Ted’s workflow to enhance their personal and professional work.

4 Lessons

01Initial SetupFree

The first lesson in Ted Mebratu's 30-minute workshop demonstrates his methodical approach to cinematic lighting in Unreal Engine, emphasizing the importance of a controlled, dim base lighting setup to maximize creative flexibility with local light sources. By combining UltraDynamicSky's volumetric cloud and fog tools with careful post-process settings, artists can learn how to achieve a highly atmospheric and believable scene. Ted also explains why intentional restraint in global lighting will lead to greater artistic control over the final composition.

Duration: 5m 39s

Initial Setup

02Weather SetupFree

This lesson demonstrates practical techniques for creating a convincing rain scene using Ultra Dynamic Weather tools in Unreal Engine, balancing technical settings with artistic choices. Ted demonstrates how to layer multiple effects — splashes, drips, and puddles — to build depth and realism. He closes out this lesson by setting up a deeper dive into the scene's lighting setup.

Duration: 3m 24s

Weather Setup

03Character Shot Lighting WorkflowFree

This lesson provides a comprehensive breakdown that covers both lighting strategy and advanced material techniques. Ted explains why working from broad, atmospheric elements down to fine detail ensures every element serves a specific visual purpose. By combining thoughtful light layering with dynamic weather material functions, he shows how to achieve a cohesive, realistic, and highly controllable scene.

Duration: 10m 27s

Character Shot Lighting Workflow

04Final Render SetupFree

The final lesson provides a practical, step-by-step walkthrough for rendering high-quality 8K stills in Unreal Engine using Movie Render Queue. Ted discusses how to balance render quality and system performance through smart settings such as tiling, spatial sampling, and proper particle warm-up. His workflow serves as a solid foundation for artists looking to produce polished, artifact-free renders for portfolio or production use.

Duration: 5m 33s

Final Render Setup

Primary tools

For this workshop you’ll need:

* Note that these programs and materials will not be supplied with the course.

Skills Covered

effects for games environments for games lighting for games visual effects

Who’s this Workshop for?

This workshop is created for intermediate to advanced artists who already have a general understanding of how lighting works in Unreal Engine 5. Artists don't need to be Unreal lighting experts, but they should be comfortable navigating the engine, placing and adjusting lights, and working within the Post Process Volume. Ted’s focus stays on his lighting decisions, the weather setup, and his thought process behind the final look.

Learning Outcomes

By completing this workshop, artists will learn how to create a realistic rainy scene in Unreal Engine 5 using the Ultra Dynamic Sky.

Key skills include:

How to understand and use effective cinematic shot lighting workflows and methods to create realistic results.
How to quickly prototype weather looks in Unreal Engine 5 using the Ultra Dynamic Sky's intuitive toolset.
How to sync an Unreal environment's materials to the weather system for a cohesive weather look.

Instructor Ted MebratuLighting Artist at Naughty Dog

Ted Mebratu is a Senior Lighting Artist at Lightspeed LA with over seven years of experience in the gaming industry. He has contributed to high-profile projects at studios such as Naughty Dog and Ready At Dawn Studios, bringing immersive worlds to life through lighting and visual storytelling.

At Naughty Dog, Ted worked on The Last of Us Part I remake, while at Ready At Dawn, he contributed to Lone Echo II and Echo VR. His work blends technical precision with artistic sensibility, enhancing player experiences through carefully crafted lighting and atmosphere.

I had the pleasure of working with Ted on The Last of Us Part 1. His eye for lighting and composition are truly unmatched. The love and attention to detail that Ted pours into his work definitely shows! His lighting is constantly setting the bar in the industry, and it is always an inspiration to witness.
- Gabriel Cervantes
Lead Environment Artist at Naughty Dog
Working with Ted on The Last of Us Part 1 remake was an absolute pleasure. He is passionate about his job, works hard to achieve great results, and is constantly pushing himself to stay up to date with the latest developments in lighting and digital art software. Ted's contribution has been extremely valuable and allowed us to deliver great-looking environments. His understanding of PBR makes him a perfect partner for texture artists looking for realism and high-quality renders.
- Jonathan Benainous
Lead Material Artist at Lightspeed L.A.

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