Shadows....

I ditto this

Once in the viewer, while shadows won't be fully supported in all systems, give it time. Naturally there will sadly be those can't take advantage of it due to hardware, but that's like anything really.

Hopefully we see some quick inclusions of other graphic cards once it hits!

Here is one I made the other day.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/9661/shadows001ma4.jpg
No antialiasing, so looks rather ugly. It does look amazing on Ultra and AA and Ani on though.

This could be very useful for various shadow casting fun.

You could have statues that cast hidden messages only at certain times of the day.
Or perhaps a treasure hunt where you must collect clues from shadows.
Perhaps a statue with an outstretched arm, that casts a shadow pointing to the hidden prize.

Maybe a small hole in a cavern wall that lets a spot of light through. At the right time of day it will light up a crystal skull/<insert magic item> and open a secret door.

Though with good things come the bad. Griefers could use the shadows for mischief.
You think it's a modern art statue? Wait until 6pm and BAM it casts a shadow of a giant phallus.

If you mean the one I posted, it's just a link to get the source to compile your own client.

The other option is to use someone else's precompiled client, but obviously all the standard disclaimers for using non-official viewers apply: don't do it unless you know you can trust the person offering the viewer, or you know they have a good reputation (ie Nicholaz).

Your comment is made of win! OMG. Wow. Those a great ideas. This could open up so much new fun in SL!!!

Shadow Penis Griefing. heee

Oops thanks Kitty, I found that by doing a quick google search and did not notice the lack of -2 in the url.

"I was thinking about this the other day and having a giggle over the conflict that will occur between items with prim shadows and the shadow feature of the viewer. I've been holding off building anything incorporating shadows for that cool effect"

This was my worry also, as I use a heck of a lot of baked light and shadows. I am pleasantly surprised that prim shadows and these rendered ones work together quiet well.

For instance, if you are looking at a view with a rendered shadows it overpowers a subtle baked shadow.

oh i remember kirstenlee cinquetti! she used to let me stash my servers on her island.

whats this about unlimited lights? i was under the impression that the local lights limit was an opengl limitation.

Let there be light!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Runitai/DeferredRendering/photo#5184383253154870754


More screenshots of lovely shadows (Not mine).
http://picasaweb.google.com/Runitai/DeferredRendering

They really need to get it working with more graphics boards, or it'll be impossible to use these reliably - areas will either be way too dark for those with shadows or way too bright for those without.

At least users can adjust their own viewing and graphics settings in the interim, can't they? It was a while before most people were really taking advantage of Windlight as well.

A friend of mine in SL couldn't take advantage of Windlight until she upgraded to a new PC, so this is a pervasive issue.

Being in the tech industry myself, I can understand not having the time and resources to ensure complete compatibility for all hardware, software and OS scenarios. I just hope LL covers as much as they can and maybe provide more setting options for those that will be unable to take advantage of their continuing upgrades.

Sure, but as I've mentioned before, SL's graphics engine isn't yet up to the level of sophistication where this stops being their fault. GMod, for example, does shadows fine - even on graphics cards older than the Geforce 7 - and with arbitrarily changing content.

I tried the Kirsten Viewer..as I suspected no shadows no difference

Oh well.....'sniff'

I should say though..and I wouldn't advise anyone to try the following, but...I thought it would be 'interesting' to try applying the same DeBug Settings in the new release candidate as in the Kirsten viewer...as I said I wouldn't advise it!!

Perre..

would it work with 1.21?

See above..and below..



Nice shoes...

/goes back to reading classes

bummer, would have been nice to have while being forced to use the RC

Can someone who has a shadow-enabled client test the limits of what will cast shadows and/or how far? For example, if I make a 400m tower, is it going to be like having a giant multi-sim sundial or does the shadowing get cut off at some point? Or does something of that size cast a shadow at all?

The shadows fade out gradually over a not-too-considerable distance.

Oh good.

I think the shadow cutoff relies on your draw distance. As long as the object can possibly be seen, it can cast a shadow. I've already found items like low-lying skyboxes and such that can ruin a good ground level view. For example... Here's the skybox "Builder's Grid" in NCI Kuula:



That is a shadow from about 100meters away. Gladly, most skyboxes are probably higher. (^_^)y

I meant that distance from the shadow causes it to fade gradually - not from the object itself. I was looking at the Kazenojin tower and its shadow, draped across the hillside, faded gradually as I moved back, until it wasn't visible at all.

Hmm...hope LL provides some way to disable shadows for objects if the builder wants to or some other kind of limits. Otherwise my current build is already going to cast shadows across several sims and it's nowhere near complete. I'm sure there's plenty of others who'll have similar problems. I've also seen plenty of mainland areas that would be one giant shadow and probably spilling over the sim borders due to the way things are built up, too.

New landowner dispute: shadow encroachment. Lol.

Of course, this is still beta stuff, so we'll have to wait and see. Windlight seemed like a horrible trainwreck in its beta stages too.