I searched, and I hope this subject was not treated before. Shadows are critical to obtain nice, believable graphics.
Look at this scene, with a car in a sunny environment:
The car shadow has two different areas:
- A light shadow area, the shadow caused by the car volume projected on the road. This area does not receive anymore the direct sun light, but still receives indirect light bouncing on surrounding objects. That is why it is not completely dark. LFS supports that type of shadow.
- A very dark shadow area directly under the car. This area does not receive direct sun light nor indirect light. We are used to see such very dark area under every object close from the ground, and when it is missing, we have difficulties to know whether an object is really in contact with the ground. LFS does not support that kind of shadow, unfortunately.
I think it would be nice to have that type of shadow too, because it improves a lot graphics, and it is present all the time, not only in sunny condition:
A quick and dirty edit to show what looks like this real picture without this shadow...car is floating! :
http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=noshadowzy3.jpg
You can add all possible fancy effects, there is no way to do something looking realistic without this shadow. And I suppose it can be done almost the same way projected shadows are done currently.
Look at this scene, with a car in a sunny environment:
The car shadow has two different areas:
- A light shadow area, the shadow caused by the car volume projected on the road. This area does not receive anymore the direct sun light, but still receives indirect light bouncing on surrounding objects. That is why it is not completely dark. LFS supports that type of shadow.
- A very dark shadow area directly under the car. This area does not receive direct sun light nor indirect light. We are used to see such very dark area under every object close from the ground, and when it is missing, we have difficulties to know whether an object is really in contact with the ground. LFS does not support that kind of shadow, unfortunately.
I think it would be nice to have that type of shadow too, because it improves a lot graphics, and it is present all the time, not only in sunny condition:
A quick and dirty edit to show what looks like this real picture without this shadow...car is floating! :
http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=noshadowzy3.jpg
You can add all possible fancy effects, there is no way to do something looking realistic without this shadow. And I suppose it can be done almost the same way projected shadows are done currently.