Problems with shadows

[Karkadann]

I have managed to produce shadows in Relativity for some tables and chairs I made with a .prp file
But I try the same thing with with the Stonehenge with out a prp file I get nothing.
I put a shadow light component on one of the lights and a shadow caster component all of the stones and it dont seem to work

I tried merging the tables chairs light and the two shadow components into a test age and still no shadows
I give up I can not figure it out I need help, I dont know blender and not many people here that I know of are using 3ds max
I can do the shadows for the AV just fine but AV shadows and no shadows from the stones looks wrong.

I know its something simple I over looked I just cant figure out what it is.

[Paradox]

I don't recommend real-time shadows for anything unless there's a moving light source, or a moving object.
Shadows are terrible for performance in Plasma, especially if you have multiple objects all casting shadows.

If your light source is in a fixed position, make decals for you shadows, or bake a lightmap. Vertex paint can also help, but probably won't give very fine-grained control over the result.

[Karkadann]

I never tried using decals or light baking a lightmaps

which one is easer and which one would render he best results for TheLostStonehenge

[Christopher]

I didn't worked much with Decals, but I know that it's very easy to make a lightmap in Plasma. There is a LightMap Component in the Max Plugin. If I remeber correctly you only need a Standard Light and apply this component to the object you want your Lightmap on. The exporter does the rest. There should also be a tutorial about this in the GoW Wiki.

If you are using Decals I think you have to render the lightmap by yourself and apply it as a Decal Texture. You can generate Lightmaps with Max, but I can't remeber how... The usage of Decals is explained in the documentation of the Plugin.

Christopher

[Karkadann]

Im not sure but from what I understand ................. that produces a lite area in the shadows, what I need is something to produce a shadow where their is light

I was looking for something that would use the mesh of the stones in Stonehenge to block the light from going threw the mesh of the stones and produce shadows, However the LostStonehenge was partially inspired by Space Ahnonay (the third sphere) and although their is shadows for the AV I did not notice any shadows for the other objects. In addition if the light on the islands is coming from a gazillion stars in the sky im kinda wondering why would it need shadows, or for that mater in the case of Ahnonay why is their shadows for the av and not the rest of the objects and where is the light for the av coming from.

excuse me while I start tearing my hair out in frustration.
I guess if it where easy every one would be doing it

edit to add

I also noticed in the LightMap tutorial in the quick render Pic

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you'll notice of the three boxes on the wall only two of them are casting shadows

and in the KI pick (final result)

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http://www.guildofwriters.org/wiki/File:KIimageltmap.jpg

none of the boxes or levers are casting shadows

Im gonna poke around in the Uru CC and see if any of the ages have the kind of shadows im looking for just out of curiosity
also I gonna try to figure out what it is about the Prp file of tables and chairs I made for Relativity why it casts shadows so well and try to reproduce it somehow

[Christopher]

I think the light in this tutorial is not casting a shadow, cause the shadow cast option of the light is not checked. Otherwise you should try to generate a Lightmap directly from max. I think this will give the best results.

Christopher

[Karkadann]

OK I got half of the shadow issue figured out. Using three omni lights with the Options under the modify tab of one of the lights under general Perimeters I have the shadows are on and Im using Ray Trace shadows
I have Dens at 50 and I get this

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which is what im looking for

however when I link into the age I get this

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http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn264/Dances-with-Madness/KIimage0001.jpg
So im making progress just not the progress I was hoping for

Any ideas why the shadows dont translate into the plazma engine
or did I miss something?

[Karkadann]

Any ideas why the shadows dont translate into the plazma engine
or did I miss something?

I do you forgot to add the component thingies

the shadows a still a bit chunky but their shadows

Edit to add

Im beginning to think theirs a few to many items casting shadows cuz the method im using is causing a lot of lag
But its good experience

[Paradox]

Im beginning to think theirs a few to many items casting shadows cuz the method im using is causing a lot of lag
But its good experience

As I said above, you should not use real-time shadows for anything that is not animated. They will cause lag, especially with a lot of objects.

Either bake the shadows into a lightmap on your terrain, or save the shadows as their own transparent texture and apply it as a decal plane just over the ground.

[Karkadann]

I haven't tried those yet, I wanted to try all option. I figured it would be good experience.

thanks your tutorials have been a big help and fairly easy for someone like me to use.
I hope in the future more people have an opportunity to create ages