Second Life Forums Archive

Alex Bean

Registered User

Join date: 21 May 2005

Posts: 1

10-19-2005 21:21

Hi guys!

Um, Im sure someone has already answered this question somewhere.. but Ive searched for hours and cant find a solution! Is there anyway to get rid of the little "shadow circles" that hover around your character's feet? I dont know if its my graphics options, but they always look like crap on my pc. The shadows fall over the characters feet themselves not under them like they should, so everyone seems to have greyed out shoes and such.

Can anyone help with this?

Sorry, this might not be the correct section to ask this question in but if anyone could help, it would be greatly appreciated!

Malachi Petunia

Gentle Miscreant

Join date: 21 Sep 2003

Posts: 3,414

10-20-2005 04:37

I don't know of a specific way to rid the shadow-oid blobs from around your feet, but there is a way to keep them from being rendered on your display - which is often used for sales snapshots of shoes and such.

You need to have the debug menu available (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D will turn this on if the menu is not beside "Help" on the top menu bar) then you can toggle the rendering of alpha (partially transparent) objects with Debug->Rendering>-Types->Alpha (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-2). The results are demonstrated in the dramatic montage attached.

Please note that this toggles all rendering of partially transparent textures so things like window glass will disappear as well. Hope that helps.

_____________________

Thili Playfair

Registered User

Join date: 18 Aug 2004

Posts: 2,417

10-20-2005 15:14

death to AV shadow blobs, i hate them

Malachi Petunia

Gentle Miscreant

Join date: 21 Sep 2003

Posts: 3,414

10-20-2005 16:15

I agree that they are a kind of crude and blobby but I think they add a really important depth cue when projecting a 3-space onto your screen. As in the example above, both pairs of feet are on the stone surface, however, without the blobs, you cannot tell that the rightmost pair are on it or above it.

I don't like 'em either, but I think killing them would make SL even more visually confusing.

_____________________

Torley Linden

Enlightenment!

Join date: 15 Sep 2004

Posts: 16,530

10-21-2005 04:08

Did someone say... I dunno... FOOT SHADOWS?

On a serious note after my rollicking, there are several things that could be done, in increasing order of difficulty.

Kill them outright. Maybe not the best idea, as Mal suggests, they do cue.

Add a Debug menu option. Sounds reasonable to me, since it goes hand-in-hand (or foot-without-shadow). You can hide/show so much toggleable schtuff from Debug. At least having the choice to switch it off is empowering. Hiding just alphas isn't convenient for fashion shoots, since a lot of them involve prim hair which is partially transparent. But this is a good stopgap.

Improve their display. Foot shadows look very bulky and unwieldy, like they're black holes eating your feet. Much as how the sunmoon reflections have been improved in 1.7 so far—an actuality which has come to pass—this could be worked on as a minor featurette.

Dynamic lighting... A WAYS AWAY, but I am hopeful!

I'm also reminded of how chat particles flying around you when you hit Enter to a line of text disappeared in 1.6. It wasn't even an option... they're just... gone! Not talked much about anymore, and perhaps not terribly missed—altho they arguably provided a cue of their own when someone was done speaking, and if you were out of range and couldn't "hear" them.

Here are links to other FOOT SHADOW resources. How meta!

one two three four five six seven

_____________________

Ben Bacon

Registered User

Join date: 14 Jul 2005

Posts: 809

10-21-2005 04:35

I would like the option (for those that have enough graphics-card-grunt) to replace foot shadows with av shadows.
I'm not proposing hyper-realistic ray-traced stuff - would be quite happy with, as a good enough approximation, my silhouette (from the screen POV, grabbed while rendering the av rather than as a seperate calculation) skewed relative to sun angle, stretched, blurred and dropped on the ground.
I'd like to see this as an option seperate to the existing shadows option. One should be able to switch on av shadows if you have enough graphics-oomph for them, even if you don't have enough for full shadows.

What think you?

Glossary
----------
Graphics-oomph: a measure of graphics-card-grunt.
Graphics-card-grunt: see graphics-oomph

Torley Linden

Enlightenment!

Join date: 15 Sep 2004

Posts: 16,530

10-21-2005 04:36

^ I don't fully understand this, Ben, but it sounds good... where are some examples of this tech currently being used I could look to? Thanxies in advance!

_____________________

Ben Bacon

Registered User

Join date: 14 Jul 2005

Posts: 809

10-21-2005 04:41

Torley, if u can drop a "before" picture of you standing somewhere (with some space around the feet for the shadow) here, I will photoshop an example and post it back. (and if you are as quick as u usually are, I can do it before my next meeting

)

Torley Linden

Enlightenment!

Join date: 15 Sep 2004

Posts: 16,530

10-21-2005 04:46

Well sure how's this?

_____________________

Ben Bacon

Registered User

Join date: 14 Jul 2005

Posts: 809

10-21-2005 04:49

From: Torley Torgeson

Well sure how's this?

close, but no cigar

I need to see the whole avie. I am popping into a 2h meeting in a few minutes, when I get back I'll look here again, or find an example from one of the other forums. seeya then

Torley Linden

Enlightenment!

Join date: 15 Sep 2004

Posts: 16,530

10-21-2005 04:55

Okeydoke!

_____________________

Ben Bacon

Registered User

Join date: 14 Jul 2005

Posts: 809

10-21-2005 07:18

here ya go

Nathan Stewart

Registered User

Join date: 2 Feb 2005

Posts: 1,039

10-21-2005 10:02

lol i actually bug reported these foot shadows in 1.7 preview but that didnt help, if you zoom in close you can see they are not properly painted out to the edges of the alpha rectangle, also if you walk on an alpha transparent floor you leave a footshadow lolol

Also if your female and wear heels these showows often render higher up due to the footshape and heel

Then i was thinking as they are designed to point the sun, and im guessing thats done client side, as we are getting more and more people in a sim, how much graphics power is it taking for it to work out where each av is in regards to the sun and render all these shadows.

If it was made an option and not just removed perhaps it should be added to the shadows option in prefs> graphics

_____________________

Torley Linden

Enlightenment!

Join date: 15 Sep 2004

Posts: 16,530

10-21-2005 11:16

WHOA VERY NICE BEN! Thanxies... wow, that's slick. Can I please put that on my blog with your permission?

Nathan, you and me both feel the same way. Option in Prefs would be even more accessible, now that you mention it...

_____________________

Ben Bacon

Registered User

Join date: 14 Jul 2005

Posts: 809

10-21-2005 13:55

glad u like. yeah - of course you can - do with it as you will - i just told photoshop what to do, them boys at adobe did the hard work

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Alex Bean Registered User Join date: 21 May 2005 Posts: 1	10-19-2005 21:21 Hi guys! Um, Im sure someone has already answered this question somewhere.. but Ive searched for hours and cant find a solution! Is there anyway to get rid of the little "shadow circles" that hover around your character's feet? I dont know if its my graphics options, but they always look like crap on my pc. The shadows fall over the characters feet themselves not under them like they should, so everyone seems to have greyed out shoes and such. Can anyone help with this? Sorry, this might not be the correct section to ask this question in but if anyone could help, it would be greatly appreciated!
Malachi Petunia Gentle Miscreant Join date: 21 Sep 2003 Posts: 3,414	10-20-2005 04:37 I don't know of a specific way to rid the shadow-oid blobs from around your feet, but there is a way to keep them from being rendered on your display - which is often used for sales snapshots of shoes and such. You need to have the debug menu available (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D will turn this on if the menu is not beside "Help" on the top menu bar) then you can toggle the rendering of alpha (partially transparent) objects with Debug->Rendering>-Types->Alpha (Ctrl-Alt-Shift-2). The results are demonstrated in the dramatic montage attached. Please note that this toggles all rendering of partially transparent textures so things like window glass will disappear as well. Hope that helps. _____________________
Thili Playfair Registered User Join date: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 2,417	10-20-2005 15:14 death to AV shadow blobs, i hate them
Malachi Petunia Gentle Miscreant Join date: 21 Sep 2003 Posts: 3,414	10-20-2005 16:15 I agree that they are a kind of crude and blobby but I think they add a really important depth cue when projecting a 3-space onto your screen. As in the example above, both pairs of feet are on the stone surface, however, without the blobs, you cannot tell that the rightmost pair are on it or above it. I don't like 'em either, but I think killing them would make SL even more visually confusing. _____________________
Torley Linden Enlightenment! Join date: 15 Sep 2004 Posts: 16,530	10-21-2005 04:08 Did someone say... I dunno... FOOT SHADOWS? On a serious note after my rollicking, there are several things that could be done, in increasing order of difficulty. Kill them outright. Maybe not the best idea, as Mal suggests, they do cue. Add a Debug menu option. Sounds reasonable to me, since it goes hand-in-hand (or foot-without-shadow). You can hide/show so much toggleable schtuff from Debug. At least having the choice to switch it off is empowering. Hiding just alphas isn't convenient for fashion shoots, since a lot of them involve prim hair which is partially transparent. But this is a good stopgap. Improve their display. Foot shadows look very bulky and unwieldy, like they're black holes eating your feet. Much as how the sunmoon reflections have been improved in 1.7 so far—an actuality which has come to pass—this could be worked on as a minor featurette. Dynamic lighting... A WAYS AWAY, but I am hopeful! I'm also reminded of how chat particles flying around you when you hit Enter to a line of text disappeared in 1.6. It wasn't even an option... they're just... gone! Not talked much about anymore, and perhaps not terribly missed—altho they arguably provided a cue of their own when someone was done speaking, and if you were out of range and couldn't "hear" them. Here are links to other FOOT SHADOW resources. How meta! one two three four five six seven _____________________
Ben Bacon Registered User Join date: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 809	10-21-2005 04:35 I would like the option (for those that have enough graphics-card-grunt) to replace foot shadows with av shadows. I'm not proposing hyper-realistic ray-traced stuff - would be quite happy with, as a good enough approximation, my silhouette (from the screen POV, grabbed while rendering the av rather than as a seperate calculation) skewed relative to sun angle, stretched, blurred and dropped on the ground. I'd like to see this as an option seperate to the existing shadows option. One should be able to switch on av shadows if you have enough graphics-oomph for them, even if you don't have enough for full shadows. What think you? Glossary ---------- Graphics-oomph: a measure of graphics-card-grunt. Graphics-card-grunt: see graphics-oomph
Torley Linden Enlightenment! Join date: 15 Sep 2004 Posts: 16,530	10-21-2005 04:36 ^ I don't fully understand this, Ben, but it sounds good... where are some examples of this tech currently being used I could look to? Thanxies in advance! _____________________
Ben Bacon Registered User Join date: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 809	10-21-2005 04:41 Torley, if u can drop a "before" picture of you standing somewhere (with some space around the feet for the shadow) here, I will photoshop an example and post it back. (and if you are as quick as u usually are, I can do it before my next meeting )
Torley Linden Enlightenment! Join date: 15 Sep 2004 Posts: 16,530	10-21-2005 04:46 Well sure how's this? _____________________
Ben Bacon Registered User Join date: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 809	10-21-2005 04:49 From: Torley Torgeson Well sure how's this? close, but no cigar I need to see the whole avie. I am popping into a 2h meeting in a few minutes, when I get back I'll look here again, or find an example from one of the other forums. seeya then
Torley Linden Enlightenment! Join date: 15 Sep 2004 Posts: 16,530	10-21-2005 04:55 Okeydoke! _____________________
Ben Bacon Registered User Join date: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 809	10-21-2005 07:18 here ya go
Nathan Stewart Registered User Join date: 2 Feb 2005 Posts: 1,039	10-21-2005 10:02 lol i actually bug reported these foot shadows in 1.7 preview but that didnt help, if you zoom in close you can see they are not properly painted out to the edges of the alpha rectangle, also if you walk on an alpha transparent floor you leave a footshadow lolol Also if your female and wear heels these showows often render higher up due to the footshape and heel Then i was thinking as they are designed to point the sun, and im guessing thats done client side, as we are getting more and more people in a sim, how much graphics power is it taking for it to work out where each av is in regards to the sun and render all these shadows. If it was made an option and not just removed perhaps it should be added to the shadows option in prefs> graphics _____________________
Torley Linden Enlightenment! Join date: 15 Sep 2004 Posts: 16,530	10-21-2005 11:16 WHOA VERY NICE BEN! Thanxies... wow, that's slick. Can I please put that on my blog with your permission? Nathan, you and me both feel the same way. Option in Prefs would be even more accessible, now that you mention it... _____________________
Ben Bacon Registered User Join date: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 809	10-21-2005 13:55 glad u like. yeah - of course you can - do with it as you will - i just told photoshop what to do, them boys at adobe did the hard work