The transformation of this HDRI from day to night really sets the foundation for the horror atmosphere I’m trying to create. Started with this forest panorama – perfect mix of tall trees creating these natural vertical lines that draw the eye upward. The original capture has this golden hour quality, catching nice rim lighting on the tree trunks that actually helped inform where I wanted shadows to fall in the night version.
Working in Photoshop, the first step was isolating those trees from the sky. The thick canopy made for natural masking points; those gaps between branches created perfect transition areas for the new night sky. Pushed the overall exposure down significantly, but kept some of that original lighting information in the tree silhouettes to maintain depth.
The night version introduces this deep blue palette that’s crucial for the feel of the environment. I added subtle star points in the visible sky sections, being careful not to overdo it – I wanted that sense of isolation that comes with a partially clouded night sky. The stars provide just enough ambient lighting to suggest scale without breaking the oppressive darkness I need for the bedroom scenes.
I used Photoshop to trace the key shapes from reference pine trees, focusing on those sharp, vertical forms. The irregular heights and varying densities create this natural-looking forest line that reads well in complete darkness. Performance-wise, this is way more efficient than trying to populate the scene with actual tree meshes, since it’s just a texture mapped to simple geometry in the background.
Set up a rectangular area light behind the treeline to simulate moonlight. The positioning was crucial, having to get that balance between illuminating the edges of the trees while maintaining deep shadows in the foreground. The light’s soft blue tint works with the night sky HDRI, creating this cohesive moonlit atmosphere.
You can see the moon in the back, it’s actually a sphere I just placed behind all the environment components. I like how it glows behind the branches, but I may go back to it later and see if I can make it a bit more visible while maintaining the general feel of the environment I made.
The landscape grass implementation really adds another layer of depth to the night forest scene. UE5’s landscape foliage tool let me scatter these simple grass meshes across the ground plane easily. I went with a mix of shorter and taller blades. It’s basic geometry, but when clumped together, they create this convincing ground cover. Especially when properly lit.
I bumped up the specular values to create these subtle glints when the rectangular backlight hits the grass, similar to how real grass catches moonlight. The increased reflection means each blade can potentially catch and reflect light, creating highlights in what would otherwise be a flat, boring ground.