Materials & Lighting · Easy · 13 min
Post Process Basics: Exposure, Bloom, and Color Grading in UE5
Add a Post Process Volume, make it cover your whole level, then tame auto-exposure and dial in bloom, temperature, saturation and contrast — the four knobs that give your scene a deliberate, filmic look.
Before this: Lighting Basics: The Sun, the Sky, and Lumen for Beginners, Place Static Meshes and Build Your First Little Scene
- Add a Post Process Volume and make it affect the entire level (Unbound)
- Understand auto-exposure and switch to fixed manual exposure
- Control bloom so bright areas glow without washing out
- Color-grade with temperature, saturation and contrast for a filmic look
What post processing actually does
You've lit your scene — now you want it to feel like a finished shot rather than a tech demo. That final layer of polish, the part that decides whether your level looks warm and cinematic or flat and washed-out, almost always comes from one humble object: the Post Process Volume.
Post processing is the screen-wide treatment applied after the 3D scene is rendered, just before it reaches your eyes. Think of it as the colour grade on a film, or the filters on a photo: exposure (how bright the whole image is), bloom (the soft glow around bright spots), and colour grading (temperature, saturation, contrast). None of it changes your geometry or lights — it restyles the final picture.
In this lesson you'll drop in a Post Process Volume, make it cover your whole level, take control of exposure so the image stops auto-brightening, and then nudge four 'filmic look' knobs. It's fast, it's reversible, and it's the single biggest bang-for-buck step you can take to make a scene look intentional.
Four terms to lock in first
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Before you start
You only need a lit scene to grade. Tick these off:
- An open level with a Directional Light and a Sky (the lighting-basics lesson's scene is ideal)
- A few meshes in view so you can judge the effect of each setting
- The Place Actors panel reachable (the 'Quickly add to project' button in the toolbar, or the Window menu)
Add the volume and grade your scene
Work top to bottom. Each row stays ticked even if you close the page and come back later.
- 1Place a Post Process Volume
Open the 'Add' / 'Quickly add to project' button in the main toolbar (or the Place Actors panel). Under the 'Visual Effects' category you'll find 'Post Process Volume'. Drag it into your level.
It appears as a wireframe box. Where the box sits in the world doesn't matter yet — we're about to make it ignore its own boundaries.
TipCan't find it? Use the search box at the top of the Place Actors panel and type 'post process'.
- 2Make it Unbound (Infinite Extent)
Select the volume and look in the Details panel on the right. Scroll to the 'Post Process Volume Settings' section near the bottom.
Tick the 'Infinite Extent (Unbound)' checkbox. Now the volume grades your entire level from any camera position, instead of only when the camera is inside the box.
TipLeave it Unbound for a single global look. You only turn this OFF when you want a localised grade — e.g. a sickly green tint that kicks in only inside one room.
- 3Take control of exposure
Still in the Details panel, find the 'Lens' → 'Exposure' section. Tick the checkbox next to 'Metering Mode' to enable the override, then set it to 'Manual'.
This stops the auto-brightening (eye adaptation) that makes the whole scene fade brighter or darker as you look around. With Manual selected, the image brightness stays put so you can grade against a stable reference.
TipAn override only takes effect once you tick the little checkbox to its LEFT. An un-ticked row is greyed out and ignored — this trips up everyone at first.
- 4Set a fixed exposure value
With Manual exposure on, find 'Apply Physical Camera Exposure' or the manual exposure value (often shown as an EV / 'Exposure Compensation' style control depending on your setup) and adjust it until the scene reads correctly — not blown out, not muddy.
Drag the value down a touch if highlights are clipping to pure white, or up if shadows are crushed to black. You're aiming for a balanced image with detail in both.
TipToggle Manual on and off a few times. Watching the auto version 'breathe' versus the locked manual version makes it instantly clear what eye adaptation was doing.
- 5Dial in bloom
Open the 'Lens' → 'Bloom' section. Tick the 'Intensity' override and adjust it. A small amount of bloom adds a believable lens glow to bright windows, lights and the sky; too much turns everything into a hazy mess.
Nudge it up until bright edges feel gently lit, then back off slightly. Subtle almost always looks more expensive than heavy.
TipIf a whole wall is glowing, your bloom is too high (or your lights are too intense). Lower bloom intensity first before touching the lights.
- 6Colour grade: temperature, saturation, contrast
Open 'Color Grading'. Under 'Temperature', tick the override and warm the image up (toward orange) for a sunset or cosy interior, or cool it (toward blue) for night or sci-fi.
Under 'Global' → 'Saturation', a value just above 1 makes colours pop; just below 1 gives a desaturated, filmic feel. Under 'Global' → 'Contrast' (sometimes called Gamma/Gain in the wheels), a touch more contrast deepens shadows and adds punch.
Make tiny moves. The difference between a great grade and a garish one is usually a few percent on each control.
TipChange ONE knob at a time and look. If you move three at once and it looks wrong, you won't know which one to undo.
You drop in a Post Process Volume, change the saturation, and the scene looks normal everywhere. Walk away and the grade vanishes. Then walk back into one spot and it returns. What's wrong, and what's the one-click fix?
The volume is bounded — it only applies its settings when the camera is physically inside its wireframe box. Step outside the box and you see the un-graded scene; step back in and the grade returns.
The fix is the 'Infinite Extent (Unbound)' checkbox in the Post Process Volume Settings. Ticking it makes the volume affect the whole level from any camera position, which is what you want for a single global look.
Auto exposure vs manual exposure — when to use each
The image brightens in dark areas and dims in bright ones automatically, mimicking how your eyes adjust walking from a dark room into sunlight.
Great for gameplay where the player moves between very different lighting (a cave to a sunny field). The downside: while you're grading, the brightness keeps shifting under you, so you can never judge a fixed look.
Brightness is locked to a value you choose. The image never 'breathes', so what you see is exactly what you grade.
Ideal while you're styling a scene, for cinematics, and for screenshots. Many beginners switch to Manual just to grade, then decide whether to re-enable Auto for the final game.
QuizCheck yourself
1Your Post Process Volume only affects the view when the camera is inside its box. What makes it grade the whole level?
Unbound / Infinite Extent makes the volume apply everywhere regardless of where the camera is — the standard choice for one global look.
2While grading, the whole image keeps brightening and dimming as you move the camera, so you can't judge your look. The fix is to…
That 'breathing' is auto-exposure / eye adaptation. Switching exposure to Manual locks brightness so you grade against a stable image.
3You change a value in the Post Process Volume and nothing happens on screen. The most likely reason is…
Each setting is only applied when the checkbox to its left is ticked. Un-ticked rows are greyed out and have no effect even if you drag them.
Handy shortcuts while grading
- F11 Toggle Immersive (full-screen viewport) — judge the look with no panels in the way
- G Toggle Game View — hide editor icons and gizmos so you see only the final image
- Ctrl S Save the level so your grade isn't lost
- Ctrl Z Undo a slider move you didn't like
Starting from your lit scene, create a deliberate 'golden hour' look: add an Unbound Post Process Volume, lock exposure to Manual, add a gentle bloom, warm the temperature toward orange, and add a small amount of contrast. Then save.
Hint 1
Add → Visual Effects → Post Process Volume, then tick 'Infinite Extent (Unbound)' in the volume settings.
Hint 2
Lens → Exposure: tick Metering Mode, set Manual, then balance the exposure value.
Hint 3
Lens → Bloom: tick Intensity and keep it subtle.
Hint 4
Color Grading → Temperature: tick the override and push it warmer; then add a touch of Global Contrast.
Drag in a Post Process Volume, select it, and tick 'Infinite Extent (Unbound)'. In Lens → Exposure, tick Metering Mode and set it to Manual, then adjust the exposure value until the scene is balanced.
In Lens → Bloom, tick Intensity and set a small amount so windows and lights glow softly. In Color Grading → Temperature, tick the override and warm it toward orange for that low-sun feel. In Color Grading → Global, nudge Contrast up a little for punch and, optionally, Saturation slightly below 1 for a filmic restraint.
Press G to hide editor gizmos and confirm the look, then Ctrl+S to save. If it looks too much, remember you moved each knob a small amount — back off the temperature first, then bloom.
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Questions beginners ask
Do I need a Post Process Volume at all? My scene already has some glow.
Unreal applies sensible default post-processing project-wide even with no volume, which is why you see some bloom and auto-exposure out of the box. You add a Post Process Volume when you want to override those defaults and author a specific look — fixed exposure, your own bloom level, a colour grade. For any deliberate style, yes, you'll want one.
What's the difference between Unbound and just making the box huge?
Scaling the box up technically works but is fragile — you have to remember to keep it bigger than the playable area, and overlapping volumes get confusing. 'Infinite Extent (Unbound)' is the clean, intended way to say 'this volume grades everywhere', with no size to maintain. Use Unbound for your global grade and bounded volumes only for localised, room-specific effects.
Why does my changed setting do nothing?
Almost always because the checkbox to the left of that setting isn't ticked. In a Post Process Volume, each property is an optional override that only applies when its checkbox is on. Tick it, then the slider takes effect. If it still does nothing, confirm the volume is Unbound (or that your camera is inside it).
Should I leave exposure on Auto or Manual for my finished game?
It depends on the experience. Manual gives a consistent, art-directed brightness that's perfect for screenshots, cinematics and stylised scenes. Auto (eye adaptation) feels natural when the player moves between very dark and very bright areas. A common workflow is to grade on Manual for a stable reference, then decide whether the shipped game benefits from re-enabling Auto.