user avatar
Daniel Wright
@EpicShaders
Engineering Fellow in Graphics at Epic Games. Lumen Global Illumination and Reflections in UE5 are my passion. Daytime version of @DanielMakeGames.
Joined July 2014
  • Pinned
    user avatar
    The slides for our huge Lumen presentation in the Advances course at Siggraph 2022 are now up! We presented all of our work on real-time Global Illumination in UE5 to date, with lots of inside info from 'The Matrix Awakens' demo. advances.realtimerendering.com/s2022/index.ht… @knarkowicz @_pmkelly
  • user avatar
    Today Lumen Global Illumination and Reflections ship in Fortnite Chapter 4 on next gen consoles and PC. This is a huge milestone for Lumen, as it's the first time we've shipped it in a real game, with foliage, and running at 60fps. epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US…
    Distance Field Ambient Occlusion
    Lumen Global Illumination
  • user avatar
    One year of my life, I hope you like.
    Explore the future of interactive storytelling and entertainment with #UE5. Download ‘The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience’ for free on @PlayStation 5 and @XBOX Series X/S: unrealengine.com/wakeup
    00:00
  • user avatar
    I reached 15 years at Epic today. When I started I was the 70th employee and I knew everyone by name. Things have changed a lot. I did significant rendering work on Unreal Engine 3, 4 and now 5. It's been stressful at times but I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be.
  • user avatar
    Replying to @EpicShaders
    It's amazing what accurate Global Illumination can do in even simple scenes in Fortnite Chapter 4 (Distance Field Ambient Occlusion vs Lumen GI)
  • user avatar
    Replying to @EpicShaders
    And Screen Space Reflections vs Lumen Reflections
  • user avatar
    I've been obsessed with Dynamic GI since the start of my career but never got the time to fully focus on it...until now. I'm very proud to show our new Dynamic GI system, Lumen, which I've been working on together with @knarkowicz and @GuillaumeAbadie.
  • user avatar
    I'm honored to be part of a third major release of Unreal Engine, starting with Unreal Engine 3 back in 2006. Lighting has always been my passion, and I'm more proud of what we're accomplishing with dynamic lighting in Unreal Engine 5 than ever before. docs.unrealengine.com/5.0/en-US/unre…
  • user avatar
    After 17 years at Epic Games and an intense few years launching Lumen in UE5 with @knarkowicz, I'm in need of a break, so I'm going on an extended leave. Lumen isn't done of course, and work on it will continue, just without me for the time being.
  • user avatar
    I started a graphics programming blog. First post on Samaritan Demo reflections from 2010! epicshaders.com/reflection-met…
  • user avatar
    Now that UE5 Early Access is out, I'm pretty anxious to watch people using Lumen in the wild for the first time. Achieving good quality GI in realtime required a stupid amount of complex algorithms, sometimes it feels like a small miracle when everything is working smoothly.
  • user avatar
    Better Lightmass SkyLight directionality coming soon
    GIF
  • user avatar
    Replying to @EpicShaders
    This was only possible with the hard work from a lot of people at Epic. On top of @knarkowicz and myself, there's Jian Ru, Tiago Costa, @Mutantspoon and the Fortnite art team, Eric McDaniel, and many others on the @UnrealEngine Rendering team and Fortnite tech team.
  • user avatar
    My slides from 'Radiance Caching for real-time Global Illumination' are now available. I put a ton of work into Lumen's Final Gather and the presentation, I think this represents my best work. advances.realtimerendering.com/s2021/index.ht…