Shadow's move though the sun does not.
by Simon Sejer Nielsen · in Torque 3D Professional · 10/03/2009 (2:27 pm) · 9 replies
ive made this huge mountain, and was testing the time it would take to run from A to B to test a few things when I noticed thats when I got near the mountain the shadows would appear, however when I look at a speciefic direction the shadows would move like the sun was rising though it was not, and in then in the end be like if there were no shadow, though looking at another direction ofcourse did fix this.
im not sure if this is a bug or not but, it certainly does looks weird and can feel sort of annoying when looking at it.
im not sure if this is a bug or not but, it certainly does looks weird and can feel sort of annoying when looking at it.
#2
However I tried to alter the shadow distance. if the shadow distance is set very high I don't get to see this sort of moving, but the shadow on the player model dissapears if you get close however.
Im not entirely sure why the shadows would move if the shadow distance is set to 400, and im in range of the object casting the shadow, though just by moving the camera the shadow dissapears.
So if anyone would have a possible fix for this without having to change the shadow distance it would be much appriciated ;D
10/06/2009 (9:04 am)
well im using 8800GT so I dont think that is the problem.However I tried to alter the shadow distance. if the shadow distance is set very high I don't get to see this sort of moving, but the shadow on the player model dissapears if you get close however.
Im not entirely sure why the shadows would move if the shadow distance is set to 400, and im in range of the object casting the shadow, though just by moving the camera the shadow dissapears.
So if anyone would have a possible fix for this without having to change the shadow distance it would be much appriciated ;D
#3
Also, shadows projected at different heights are hard to work with as well at times as you can make them look good if you are at the bottom, but if you get on the top it will look a bit pixelated (on the reverse if you make it look good from the top it looks a bit blurred on the bottom)
10/06/2009 (3:42 pm)
Not sure there is much of a fix unfortunately. I also have an issue with mountains and other tall objects as they start to intersect the sun. The shadows tend to bork out a bit at this position. Will most likely need to be addressed by the programmers. You can try adjusting some of the paramaters as much as you can to try to get it looking ok.Also, shadows projected at different heights are hard to work with as well at times as you can make them look good if you are at the bottom, but if you get on the top it will look a bit pixelated (on the reverse if you make it look good from the top it looks a bit blurred on the bottom)
#4
Image 1. The scene: house and mountain
Image 2. A little bit closer, there is a lighter square appearing at the arrow.
Image 3. More closer the shadows start popping up. Notice the lighter square marked by the arrows.
Image 4. Closer to the mountain the shadow appears.
Image 5. More closer to the mountain, more shadow.
Image 6. Same position as image 5, but now looking down a bit.
I have not tried changing the shadow distance, but it might be a shader problem, because of the appearance of the lighter square (viewing frustrum or something like that?)
10/09/2009 (1:53 pm)
As promised here some screenshots of the moving and popping shadows.Image 1. The scene: house and mountainImage 2. A little bit closer, there is a lighter square appearing at the arrow.Image 3. More closer the shadows start popping up. Notice the lighter square marked by the arrows.Image 4. Closer to the mountain the shadow appears.Image 5. More closer to the mountain, more shadow.Image 6. Same position as image 5, but now looking down a bit.I have not tried changing the shadow distance, but it might be a shader problem, because of the appearance of the lighter square (viewing frustrum or something like that?)
#5
10/09/2009 (3:59 pm)
Is the sun positioned right behind the mountain? Looks like it from the shadowing. Unfortunately I have this issue as well and haven't found a way to fix it with the current settings.
#6
@Joshua:
This also fixes the problem with the moving shadow. You have to set the shadow distance to a fairly big distance.
10/10/2009 (4:59 pm)
I have changed the shadow distance in the Sun object and then it is back to normal.@Joshua:
This also fixes the problem with the moving shadow. You have to set the shadow distance to a fairly big distance.
#7
But if you turn the shadow dinstance to high the character shadow dissapears when your close to the character you are looking at.
10/10/2009 (6:03 pm)
@Richard:But if you turn the shadow dinstance to high the character shadow dissapears when your close to the character you are looking at.
#8
10/10/2009 (6:10 pm)
Exactly what Simon says. The character shadow and those fairly low to the ground either go away or look bad.
#9
Yeah, I had noticed that. What I did is change the different variables for the shadow in the sun object until both shadows were more or less acceptable to me. I myself found that moving shadow horrible, so I offered a little bit of the quality for the closer shadows to static terrain shadows. But I agree, it is still a compromise.
10/12/2009 (2:48 pm)
@Simon and Joshua:Yeah, I had noticed that. What I did is change the different variables for the shadow in the sun object until both shadows were more or less acceptable to me. I myself found that moving shadow horrible, so I offered a little bit of the quality for the closer shadows to static terrain shadows. But I agree, it is still a compromise.
Richard Marrevee
R.G.S - Richards Game Studio
I noticed it when I changed my video card from Geforce 8600 to Geforce 9800, so I thought at first that this was causing this problem.