Enable hardware ray tracing on Lumen for Android devices
Introduction
What is Lumen?
What is Global Illumination?
How to Enable Lumen
How to Enable Hardware Ray Tracing on Lumen
Next Steps
Enable hardware ray tracing on Lumen for Android devices
Who is this for?
This is an introductory topic for Unreal Engine developers interested in using hardware ray tracing with Lumen on Arm devices.
What will you learn?
Upon completion of this Learning Path, you will be able to:
- Learn about Lumen and global illumination.
- Enable hardware ray tracing on Lumen for Arm devices.
Prerequisites
Before starting, you will need the following:
- A computer capable of running Unreal Engine version 5.3 or later .
- An Android mobile device that has a Mali GPU with hardware ray tracing support.
- A USB cable to connect the mobile device to your computer.
Summary
This summary was drafted with an approved AI-assisted workflow and reviewed by Arm contributors before publication. Human technical review remains part of the process so the final page reflects engineering rigor, accuracy, and Arm editorial standards.
You’ll enable Unreal Engine Lumen with hardware ray tracing on supported Android devices. First, you’ll configure Lumen for global illumination and reflections, enable the SM5 shader format through Vulkan Desktop, and use deferred shading. Then, you’ll learn to enable Lumen in your project and by creating a Post Process Volume, and configure settings to use ray tracing.
Frequently asked questions
These FAQs were drafted with an approved AI-assisted workflow and reviewed by Arm contributors before publication. Human technical review remains part of the process so the final page reflects engineering rigor, accuracy, and Arm editorial standards.
Yes. Open Project Settings > Engine - Rendering and select Lumen in the Global Illumination section and again in the Reflections section.
In Project Settings under Platforms - Android, enable Support Vulkan Desktop [Experimental]. This activates SM5 for the Android target.
Use deferred shading. Go to Project Settings > Engine - Rendering and uncheck Forward Shading.
Yes. Add a Post Process Volume actor and choose Lumen in the Global Illumination sections in its Details panel.
Lumen can fall back to software ray tracing. Select Use Hardware Ray Tracing when available under Project Settings > Engine - Rendering to prioritize hardware acceleration when the device supports it.