Can someone point me in the right direction plz, I am having some probs with stencil shadows. Here are two screen shots to show the problem I am experiencing:





Hopefully you can see the problem. In the first shot you can see the stencil shadow, but as I move the camera up a little, the shadow vanishes. I've tried moving the models origin around to no avail.

Any help gratefully appreciated. TIA

anyone?

I recall something very similar happening in my 3D game roughly 10 months ago when I last did anything considerable to it. It's not just camera height, but it happens at any angle as well. The fix is what I don't know.

I noticed it several times before Ulillillia, It seems to be caused by the shadows being listed as no longer visible, some kind of origin of the shadow or similiar.

I've had a good scan through the manual and couldn't find anything about it, other than turning stencil on/off.

Maybe I should raise it in the Ask Conitec thread....

Edit: Thanks for replying, at least I know I am not loosing my marbles here

As far as I know this is 3DGS's especially outdated, to an almost unbelievable extent useless and, after all, damn slow stencil algorithm.
I don't exactly know how they work - however this has nothing to do with the models origin I think. The only way to "workaround" this problem is to have the camera at a greater distance to the model and -if possible- not looking at it from the direction the shadow falls to.
JCL once stated that a new, faster algorithm was to be implemented in future versions, but for the moment you'll have to stay with things as they are, I'm afraid...

EDIT: Hey that was someone faster than me again

It seems to happen at any distance. In my case, I wasn't even using stencil shadows (open mesh - won't work). It's ten months ago so I don't recall that well. Also, if you get the camera in the area of the shadow, the surroundings become darkened as well, even though they aren't affected by the light - the entire scene is affected.

As much as I appreciate your feedback on this matter Matrix, I don't think this IS the problem, as this can be observed without moving the camera closer / or further from the shadow.

Please take a look at the small demo here: Downloads - Showcase Alpha

You will see, as you move the camera upwards, the shadow pops in and out, depending on the angle.

Note: WASD & Right Mouse Click (Although the click is just for aiming)

I see. However I'm pretty sure that, actually, this is exactly what I'm talking about. I can't explain it any better since I have no real idea of how stencil shadows work, but I think the shadow volume is often quite big and interferes with the camera volume even where you wouldn't think of it. Whatsoever, this is just what my experiences with stencils are able to tell me. Probably you should indeed ask Conitec since they're probably the only ones who can provide you with a reliable answer.

EDIT: Here's another possibility that just came to my mind... Since, in your demo, the stencil shadow disappears if the figure's feet are close to the bottom of the screen, I thought probably the culling process could also be involved here? That is, probably the shadow is being generated from an internal copy of your model that, for some reason, gets clipped earlier than its visible pendant - for "performance reasons" or whatever

I recall it happening with my platforms in my 3D game with no regard to where it is located on the screen, even the top, far left, center, anywhere.