Doom 3 shadows questionable...

[FictiousWill]

The engine does not distinguish different objects for lighting. It's a UNIFIED lighting system. No tricks. All lights are the same, all lights act the same. The flashlight is a real engine light source and differs in no way from any other light in doom3. There are NO light maps. There are no shadow maps. There are no sprite shadows. There are no projector shadows. It's all stencils, all the time, on all channels, 24-7. Is the concept getting through?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

I think FictiousWill deserves an award for his concise explanations, and his general attitude throughout this thread. An example to you all.

 

[Feath]

I think FictiousWill deserves an award for his concise explanations, and his general attitude throughout this thread. An example to you all.

Are you being sarcastic?

 

[Neutrino]

The engine does not distinguish different objects for lighting. It's a UNIFIED lighting system. No tricks. All lights are the same, all lights act the same. The flashlight is a real engine light source and differs in no way from any other light in doom3. There are NO light maps. There are no shadow maps. There are no sprite shadows. There are no projector shadows. It's all stencils, all the time, on all channels, 24-7. Is the concept getting through?

Yes, the concept is getting through. However, that's not quite right as not all shadows are stencil shadows. Fence and grating shadows are projected shadow maps and not real shadows at all. Same thing for all the moving fan blade shadows.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Are you being sarcastic?

Heh, nope.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

There's got to be some sarcasm in there.

Unless you missed this post:

Wow. Fuçk you.

A model to us all indeed.

Anywho, I though we had already figured out long ago that the problem was due to a lack of ambient light washing out distant shadows? Oh well.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

When have you ever known me to be sarcastic?

 

[FictiousWill]

Apologies for my rather concise post earlier, and thank you, Pi Mu Rho.

 

[Rico]

I have seen some strange discrepancies in the shadowing and I thought more people would notice them.

Do you guys remember the first swinging light you find right after the "incident"? You know, the one that looked weird for some reason or another where it had a huge black block right on top of it?

Well after some looking at it ingame, I finally caught on to why it looked strange to me. You see, the light is being cast down right? After some looking I noticed there were no lights in the floor or any lights aiming up, which means that shadow was not suppossed to be there at all. The environment should have been darker on top of the lamp because it wasn't being illuminated, but a huge block shadow like that should not have been present unless there was a light right below the lamp (which there isn't)

Anybody know what I mean? Maybe you can show them better if you can post a screenshot?

 

[f0rked]

Rico, if I understand correctly the part you're talking about, then I think I can explain. The reason the area above the light is so dark is because the engine doesn't deal with light reflecting off surfaces (as that would drain too much computing power), therefor any area not lit directly (such as the area above the swinging lamp) is automatically shadowed.

 

[Neutrino]

I have seen some strange discrepancies in the shadowing and I thought more people would notice them.

Do you guys remember the first swinging light you find right after the "incident"? You know, the one that looked weird for some reason or another where it had a huge black block right on top of it?

Well after some looking at it ingame, I finally caught on to why it looked strange to me. You see, the light is being cast down right? After some looking I noticed there were no lights in the floor or any lights aiming up, which means that shadow was not suppossed to be there at all. The environment should have been darker on top of the lamp because it wasn't being illuminated, but a huge block shadow like that should not have been present unless there was a light right below the lamp (which there isn't)

Anybody know what I mean? Maybe you can show them better if you can post a screenshot?

Another possibility is that there was in fact a light below it. The maps use many light sources that aren't actually near a light to add atmosphere to a room.

 

[Rico]

Yeah f0rked, I imagined it would be that since Doom3 doesn't have radiosity lighting.

The main gripe is that the fact that the shadowing is so sharp makes it look very silly in contrast to what we see in daily life. If there is indeed a light below it that simply doesn't show as a physical object in the map then it's also somewhat reasonable although not neccessary, every single one of my friends who I've had play Doom3 comment on that particular spot looking rather silly for said reasons.

It seems to me that most dynamic lights serve no purpose other than saying "Hey, we can make swinging lights! Look at me!!" One of the few gripes I have about the game... too much show but no good implementation.

 

[blahblahblah]

Yeah f0rked, I imagined it would be that since Doom3 doesn't have radiosity lighting.

The main gripe is that the fact that the shadowing is so sharp makes it look very silly in contrast to what we see in daily life. If there is indeed a light below it that simply doesn't show as a physical object in the map then it's also somewhat reasonable although not neccessary, every single one of my friends who I've had play Doom3 comment on that particular spot looking rather silly for said reasons.

It seems to me that most dynamic lights serve no purpose other than saying "Hey, we can make swinging lights! Look at me!!" One of the few gripes I have about the game... too much show but no good implementation.

The lighting and shadows in Doom 3 are way more realistic than any other game. I'm learning how to make maps in Doom 3 (first time for any FPS shooter) and this dynamic lighting/shadowing is awesome. Having two shadows from 2 different light sources is way more realistic than having two light sources but one shadow.

 

[PvtRyan]

The lighting and shadows in Doom 3 are way more realistic than any other game. I'm learning how to make maps in Doom 3 (first time for any FPS shooter) and this dynamic lighting/shadowing is awesome. Having two shadows from 2 different light sources is way more realistic than having two light sources but one shadow.

Having a million lights in one room casting a million shadows but letting an unlit polygon completely black because it supports no radiosity is not realistic in any way.
Sure, it works in Doom 3, but it's harsh lighting would pretty much suck for realistic outdoor lighting. A planet with an atmosphere will never ever cast shadows like it does in Doom 3.

 

[blahblahblah]

Having a million lights in one room casting a million shadows but letting an unlit polygon completely black because it supports no radiosity is not realistic in any way.
Sure, it works in Doom 3, but it's harsh lighting would pretty much suck for realistic outdoor lighting. A planet with an atmosphere will never ever cast shadows like it does in Doom 3.

True, but an unified lighting/shadow system sucks for indoor Mars space stations and anyother indoor game.

Though, you don't have to have everything pitch black. Just throw an ambient light in the area and that solves your problem.