[BUG 1.0] Shadow inconsistancies
by Joshua Halls (Xerves) · in Torque 3D Professional · 09/29/2009 (4:19 pm) · 9 replies
The lighting in the PhysX zones really needs another pass as the current values look *REALLY BAD* the way they are setup now. Go over to the fence looking objects and it just doesn't reflect well on what the AL can do. There are also some issues where it is softening (err fuzzing) the edges and you can see in this image it is doing a bit of both.
About the author
Part of the team that works on The Repopulation, a SciFi based MMO using a heavily modified version of the Torque MMO Kit - T3D. I also take care of the T3D version of the Torque MMO Kit.
#2
As we're working on 1.1 we're getting a new options screen setup that will allow for fallbacks in shadow quality which should allow us to be more agressive while not hurting lower memory GPUs.
09/29/2009 (7:38 pm)
I didn't setup the Desert level or tweak the shadows on any of the shipping demos. If i were tweaking thos levels i would have turned them up myself.As we're working on 1.1 we're getting a new options screen setup that will allow for fallbacks in shadow quality which should allow us to be more agressive while not hurting lower memory GPUs.
#3
09/29/2009 (7:50 pm)
No problem, someone might want to look at those as if they are trying to sell a product by the way those look they aren't going to sell a lot of product on that basis :-). 
#4
09/29/2009 (8:02 pm)
Heh heh, that level was just using the default settings for most everything in it. I had asked for a "someone to pretty it up" pass ;) 
#5
I'm not sure this qualifies as a "bug" since it is functionally correct. Is an ugly texture a "bug" or just a lack of polish?
09/30/2009 (9:53 pm)
I think it is no surprise that we are always super short on artists here on the Torque team. We are working hard to address that but until then sometimes there will be some not-as-pretty artwork that makes it out =PI'm not sure this qualifies as a "bug" since it is functionally correct. Is an ugly texture a "bug" or just a lack of polish?
#6
09/30/2009 (9:55 pm)
And you have to consider the number of people with lower HW specs who may be trying out the demo. If everything is cranked up to the max to always look it's best, you'll probably end up with people saying it looks great but doesn't run worth a damn.
#7
09/30/2009 (10:33 pm)
It is not a texture issue, it is a lighting issue unless I am missing something. Those are dynamic shadows.
#8
09/30/2009 (10:48 pm)
My question about a "texture" was more about unpolished artwork in general being considered a "bug" than about this specific lighting issue (which just needs an artist to do a tuning pass on it).
#9
Sorry the second bit I posted is more a pass through of the zone and technically isn't a bug.
09/30/2009 (11:11 pm)
Please see the first picture as well in the posting how there is literally a diagnal slash where the shadow is fairly clean than fuzzy. Could possibly be a setting and I just need to tweek it more, but I have noticed that a bit as well.Sorry the second bit I posted is more a pass through of the zone and technically isn't a bug.
Torque 3D Owner Joshua Halls (Xerves)
This is from the desert area. First off the size for the textures are set to 512 on the sun, 1024 does quite a bit alone. After some more tweeks and hardening the shadows out a bit it looks like this.
Not perfect, but IMO looks much better than the first picture and if this zone is going out as a demo you don't want them to think the dynamics shadows look like the 1st picture.