Itoo Software Forum

Forest Pack => Forest Pro (*) => Topic started by: UF7753 on November 26, 2007, 03:40:46 PM

Title: Horizontal Shadows on objects
Post by: UF7753 on November 26, 2007, 03:40:46 PM
the horizontal shadows do not cast across objects. the vertical do as you can see from the image below. so is there something i'm missing or is this a limit of forest pro at the moment?

(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/freddyhard/Horizontal_Shadow.jpg)
Title: Re: Horizontal Shadows on objects
Post by: iToo on November 26, 2007, 07:52:09 PM

We cast horizontal shadows using a fake plane, placed by default at 5% of the tree's height from the base of it. So, the objects above of this plane are out of the shadow area.

Try increasing the Z Offset value in the shadow parameters, to move up the shadow plane. Although this fix is very dependent of the scene, may be useful in some situations.

Title: Re: Horizontal Shadows on objects
Post by: UF7753 on November 27, 2007, 12:53:08 PM
thanks for the reply. i will try this later when i get a chance. i do not plan to place objects in this position often and i suppose i could leave off the horizontal shadow as an option.
if i remember correctly, when i increased the z% the shadow started to move in the direction that the light creating the shadow was pointing. i could create another directional light pointing straight down to cast the horizontal shadow, so when i increase the z% it will not move in the (x,y) axis. if this works i'll post back.
Title: Re: Horizontal Shadows on objects
Post by: UF7753 on November 27, 2007, 03:31:31 PM
some success. i found that using a second light with raytrace shadows for the horizontal shadow works in the sense you can increase the z% without the shadow moving in the x,y plane. i had to vary the shadow density to get the xshadow to a similar raytrace shadow.
this is probably getting a little complex, because i need to add another light for GI and 3 lights are 1 too many, i think.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/freddyhard/H_Shadow2.jpg)