I''m working for my MSc project on shadows in video games. I developed a simple program to render projection shadows and shadow volumes. Well, now i would like to find some real examples. Which technique is used in which game. So if you know which techniques are used in you favorites games for rendering shadows, tell me please. What is the quality, problems... Well i know some techniques but i would like to know how they are used in the real world. Thanks for your help Eric

First of all are you limiting yourself to 3D or do you also consider 2D ?
Most 2D games use a sready made shadow. Some also use a mask of the current sprite that will be alpha blended.

For 3D games, the "classic" option is to project a model on a surface to calculate the shadow. But I have seen one alternative in Nocturne (don''t remember the company who did it. was is G.O.D. ?)
In this game, everything is dark, and you cast lights. Shadows are thus created naturally, by the absence of light. Since they don''t do any radiosity (not that I know of), most of the game is dark ... which suits perfectly the game (horror style).

youpla :-P

Thanks for your answer,i''m only interested in 3D games. I don''t have the time to play a lot, but could you give me a list of game that have shadows. I can maybe find the demo to download and see how good they are. Are their any quake like with good shadows ? or RPG ?
Thanks

Eric

I''m investigating for quite some time now, and found that most games don''t have very accurate shadows.

simple circle on the ground for characters and precalculated radiosity are the most common shadows you''ll find.

Even upcoming games don''t use shadow volume much.
I''ve seen some using planar projected shadows, it''s okay.

There are plenty of technics for illumination and shadowing available on the Internet.

-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-

I don''t think you''ll ind a lot of gams with real time shadows in 3D, because this means a lot of calculations (you have to project the facets of your model on surfaces, I guess)

The only one that comes to mind if Nocturne, but that''s using a reverse method (you don''t actually draw shadows, you''ll have to see it to understand).

If you look at the Qrad sourcecode, I guess you would understand the technique they use to calculate their static shadows, as well as the radiosity techniques.

Bu for realistic real time shadow casting you should look for demomakers. This has been done a long time ago, and I am sure you could find lots of examples. For the code, I don''t know.

Check out www.hornet.org (deceased, but excellent archives)
Also try the IRC, if you speak french, try #demofr on IRCnet (At least, I know that one is populated)
www.planet-d.net is nice as well, and generally, from those sites, follow the golden paved way, and you should get where you want

youpla :-P

check out the shadows in q3 youve gotta go cg_drawshadows 2 or someit but very quick and very acurate , problem is though they only get cast upon one plane

try switching r_shadows or gl_shadows (forget which) to 1 in quake2 or half-life

The best shadows that ive seen in any game would have to be in Drakan. They are mapped correct and all...

The LithEngine (Blood 2, Shogo, BlackOps) uses some semi-sucky shadow routine... I think the shadow is a model, its not mapped onto surfaces or anything... it looks good when its on a flat surface, else it''l look really strange (shadow sticking out from the top of cliffs etc...)

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