Hi Ivan, hi Redeemer,

thank you for your feedback.

But I think there have probably been a few misunderstandings,
because my previous comments were written in German language.

You are absolutely right.
But it was not my intention to present a finished game level.

I only wanted to show my new 'photorealistic shadow' shader and the physics effects I am working on.
The level is only a test level and the models are only placeholder models.
It is far away from being a finished game level.

At the moment I have to work with my old Laptop because my PC has broken.
This is the reason why I am currently not working on modeling and leveldesign (3dsMax is not running on my Laptop).
So I use the time to figure out what is technically possible with the Unity, for writing Editor tools and Shaders,
and for doing performance tests.

I'm also using photogrammetry and a 3D scanner for my project.

But for the textures I use a slightly different technique.
My approach is to obtain the original shadows from the photo texture whenever it is possible.
Because only the original shadows from a photo look really photorealistic.

I'm not using a dynamic day and night cycle. So it is not a problem when most of the shadows in my game are static shadows.
I believe that for photorealistic games it is better to use realistic shadows instead of realtime calculated shadows.

To understand what I mean, please take a look at the screenshot from the blog and compare it with a real photo:
Compare screenshot with photo.

The ingame screenshot looks very good. But it is not really photorealistic.
Look at the shadows on the terrain. You can see hard engine shadows.
But in the photo you can see a very diffuse light and very soft shadows on the floor.

But the biggest difference between the two images is:
In the photo you can see much more plants and much more details on the ground.
Only with photo textures you can achieve so much details with an acceptable frame rate.

And this is the reason why I have developed my new Shader, which

• is a modified Unlit Shader (very fast),
• shows the original colors of the texture,
• but can receive smooth dynamic shadows,
• and the best of all: all shadows of the original photo texture behave like engine shadows.

Here some screenshots how it works:



As you can see: with this shader it is also possible to simulate 'Contact Hardened Shadows'
(shadows of the leaves from the tree are smoother than the shadows of the stones on the ground).


I am also working with physically-based shading. But not for the whole game.
I will use it only in situations where it is absolutely necessary. For example, for NPCs.
Here some screenshots of a new skin shader I'm currently testing (from the Unity Asset Store):


(show full size)

Best regards,
Thomas