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| I attached an image of rather blocky shadows. Resolution is at 2048 - blur is off (because it looks worse.
I have a NVidia Gforce 7800 GT 256mb. I tried messing withn its quality settings without any luck.
BTW, I notice flowers and grass don't cast shadows ( must be rare form of venus vampire plants).
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
--Edgar Allan Poe
Joe Piazzo
www.cinedv.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/cinedv
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| Hi JP,
what kind of light are you using to create the shadows? Also, is that light casting shadows for the entire 3d scene?
From previous posts It looks like you are familiar with 3d so here are some suggestions to help you get cleaner shadows. I dont have Iclone infront of me so I cant be 100% sure, but these things usually work in the world of 3d in general.
Shadows in Iclone are done with the use of depth maps, these maps can be created at different resolutions as you already know. But you also need to know how much you are putting on that map. The more items are included on the map, the less resolution you will have per item. So if one light is creating a depth map for the entire world then you are cramming a lot of little shadow in one map and this is why I think you have the blocky shadows even with a 2k map.
You can try optimizing the map by telling the ground objects not to cast shadows but be able to receive them. This way the light does not need to create this huge shadow for the terrain and leave more room for the other shadows. Also you could try using spotlights , and try to localize the area where the shadows are being created.
Try these tips and let me know if they helped,
This is a very interesting topic which I hope reallusion will clarify more in detph. 
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| Yup, you hit it. Thank you. I uploaded another image so everyone could see. I was using directional light.
Here, I switched to spot Light. As you can see, much better.
I also tried turning off the cast shadows on the 3d terrian and it seemed to help the directional a little.
It is probably good practice to turn on shadows only when necessary, and on as few lights as possible to get the desired effect. Use those limited resources wisely.
Thanks Again,
JP
PS I am digging into IC3 deeply now - and besides a few small things - I am really liking what I have found.
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
--Edgar Allan Poe
Joe Piazzo
www.cinedv.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/cinedv
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| That is a BIG difference. Great tip... thanks.
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| | | Junior Member
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| I see the shadow in your pic but I and others have been unable to get actors to cast shadows. I have yet to see a Reallusion Ver 3 video with iClone actors casting shadows. Is shadowing video card dependent? Shadows are automatic in iClone 2.5. Some additional information as to how to achieve actor shadowing would be appreciated.
Thanks
Sam
Windows2Apples |
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| | | Junior Member
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| Before I buy another video card to enable actor shadows please let me know if :
1. Reallusion has an iClone 3 demo with actors casting shadows and if so where I (we) can view it.
2. I have an HP 9040n Quad with 3 gig ram, Vista Home Premium and a NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS. Should I be able to produce iClone 3 animation with characters casting shadows? If I need a upgrade in my card I need a specific card number ... 7, 8 9 series in not enough info given the plethora of cards out there.
It seems I and others have the same question yet no one from Reallusion has really addressed the missing actor shadows.
Thanks
Sam
Windows2Apples
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| bmailsjc (8/27/2008)
Before I buy another video card to enable actor shadows please let me know if :
1. Reallusion has an iClone 3 demo with actors casting shadows and if so where I (we) can view it.
2. I have an HP 9040n Quad with 3 gig ram, Vista Home Premium and a NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS. Should I be able to produce iClone 3 animation with characters casting shadows? If I need a upgrade in my card I need a specific card number ... 7, 8 9 series in not enough info given the plethora of cards out there.
It seems I and others have the same question yet no one from Reallusion has really addressed the missing actor shadows.
Thanks
Sam
Windows2Apples
In my own hunt for graphics that works I have found that a NVIDIA GeForce 8400 is
actually to weak, I have bought a GeForce 8600 GT, from the start I aimed at a GeForce 8500 but I had to revice my buying ideas, GeForce 8500 was to weak...
Just a friendly warning...
Regards Gorz
 White Tiger Web Shop found at http://www.gallery.swcab.nu/          
Animated ANIMALS, live props, live animals, ordinary props, music, freebies and much more....  |
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| I'm using a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS 512mb and it seems to do everything. I had a 5200 or 5500 that didn't work so well. Before I upgraded I couldn't run the demo projects that came with version 3. Well I guess I could run them but if I turned on pixel shader things would disappear. Textures and shadows wouldn't work but now they do.
Hope that helps. |
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| Thanks for the feedback. After more experimentation I have been able to produce actor shadows using the spot light as alluded to by others here. When I up the resolution actor animation slows and that may be a function of my hardware (i.e. video card). I will do some more experimentation before upgrading the card. I am wondering where the Reallusion support staff is as users struggle to use iClone 3 (warts and all).
One of the problems for me was as soon as I plopped an actor on an iClone 2.5 blank stage a shadow was cast. There was is no need to use spotlights. The natural assumption by many 2.5 users is that actor cast shadows was dropped in 3.0 or not permitted by their hardware. Reallusion needs to produce a project that pushes customers computers to the limits and allow them to compare their output with that of an online video of the test project.
I can get actor shadow in some sets and not others. Works with my 3D sets such as the news room stage shipped with 2.5. I will post a few shadow videos on youtube and if interested will try to make the project available to those in need of an example project.
Sam
Windows2Apples.com
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