(rFactor) Shadows for String Objects?

[Emery]

Has anyone tinkered with shadows for string objects?

I'm using Zaxxon's guardrail xPack and want shadows. Turning shadows on generates a generic blob shadow from the middle of the string object and doesn't extend it along the length of the guardrail. I'm guessing a shadow texture needs to be created, but that still leaves the question of how to extend the shadow along the length of the guardrail.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Small or thin objects don't behave well with shadows. You can try changing the shadow type from "Solid" to "Texture", a separate shadow object is not needed if that works but i doubt it. Try increase the shadow quality. Shadows usually needs to be planned ahead and well choosed, it increses performance requirements quite fast, most use shadows only when/where it is absolutely needed.

 

[Emery]

Yes, I well understand the performance envelope for shadows and this is a final embellishment to decide if the fps hit is worthwhile.

Tried the trick of solid vs. texture and got the same result. No effect on framerate, so I think I'm well within performance bounds.

Haven't tried increasing the shadow quality. I don't really follow the logic of how that would create the correct shadow? Doesn't it just increase the intensity of the shadow?

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Lower qualities also diffuse the borders, higher gives more crisp outlines. Thin or narrow objects have problem with shadows, they may never work. If you have constant sun angle, ie you don't use different time of day settings you can "paint" the shadow straight to the road, either by duplicating road texture and modfing it or by creating a simple plane above the tarmac. For dynamic shadows, it can be a hard struggle. Good luck and keep us posted, i would like to add shadows guardrails and a like too.. Havent yet found a way to do it properly

 

[Emery]

Ah, yes, changing to HIGH or VERY HIGH helps (forgot about the crispness aspect), though it's still not quite right. Sometimes the shadows flash to a different pattern and not all of the guardrails are equally shadowed.

I found a reference from rsoule and erhlec that suggests using more objects (rather than a single large object). I'll try breaking up the guardrail into several objects to see if the shadows are more faithfully reproduced.

Selective use of shadows definitely enhances the track with minimal framerate penalty. The track I'm working on was used for endurance races in the '60s, so shadows are an important element.