a thought on shadows

[raaaid]

have you ever wondered if a plane gives a shadow? think for a second

i have the answer to this question but will let you have thinking

no dont test in the game i know it does without looking but you can see also the clouds reflected in the sea and its not like that

so if a plane gives no shadow how can earth during an moon eclipse give a defined shadow?

this took 15 pages in the zoo and even a nuclear physicist admitted got puzzled on this question

heay and anybodys seen the rainbow in the game ?

btw sea reflections need workout not the shadows im just bored

[recoilfx]

It depends on time of day and weather. Harsh direct sunlight = shadow.

Overcast sky - no. We don't have overcast sky in CloD though.

[raaaid]

i challenge anybody to find a penumbra in a cn elipse graph of a varying tone of grey as it should be



edit:

everything is a lie except this^

see all graphs of eclipse all over the net showin the lie of a penumbra shadow of uniform grey



will this game the only game in the market to get shadows as they should be

hey maybe they could even render a realistic moon eclipse not the fake we see in the sky dome

edit:

oh and check this hallo this is how i see things with my glasses maybe it could get implemented as a lens effect

[raaaid]

Originally Posted by recoilfx

It depends on time of day and weather. Harsh direct sunlight = shadow.

Overcast sky - no. We don't have overcast sky in CloD though.

youre wrong

a plane on ly casts a shadow if it covers the sun

[recoilfx]

Huh? So why do I see planes shadow going by me at a near by small airport when they are clearly not covering the sun?

[raaaid]

well the lower they are the more penumbra they cast

if they half cover the sun they give half shadow

if it covers a tenth of the sun probably the penumbra shadow its unnoticeable

notice how the far away building gives a very undefined shadow while my close shadow is very defined



the old il2 got the shadows thing wrong i dont know about clod

edit:

i think sea reflection could be fixed by blurring the reflection a lot

[recoilfx]

Right, it depends on the height of the aircraft, but more so on how direct and harsh sun light is as I've said in the previous post, which I guess is what you meant by Sun being directly 'overhead'.

I believe the old il2 uses stencil buffer shadow, which is always harsh. CloD uses shadow maps which can create soft shadows, but they can be aliased (see the flickering shadows for trees).

Neither allow shadows to get softer by distance. I think Crysis 3 with DX11 patch is the only game that has variable penumbra right now.

[VO101_Tom]

Originally Posted by raaaid

...
if they half cover the sun they give half shadow
...

I think, it's not the direct radiation, but because of the diffuse sky radiation. Is the same reason of the shade's blurring edge, and the same reason, why is not completely darkness in the shade (like in space), and so on.

In cod, the airplanes have a shade, but its edge blurred very much from high altitude. Like here, for example.

[GuillermoZS]

Originally Posted by raaaid

youre wrong

a plane on ly casts a shadow if it covers the sun

Wrong A plane casts shadows when it is covered by sun (not the oposite) which always happens being on earth (obviously, unless the plane is under a hangar).

Shadow casting depend on 2 things:

- Distance from the source of light to the object. (being the distance from the sun to the earth so huge, the shadow is 99,9999...% parallel to the object, i.e., of the same size).
- Distance from the object to the surface where the shadow is casted (the longer the distance, the more diffuse/blurry the shadow will be).

In overcast days, the rays of the sun are randomly disturbed by the clouds in every direction, and so is the shadow. The shadow is there, but it´s barely noticeably since the rays of light come in every direction instead from a focal point (what happens when the sun is not covered).

S!

[5-in-50]

Planes cast defined shadows when at or below around 4000ft. The shadow seems to disappear somewhat as the aircraft gets higher or if the aircraft is smaller.

Shadows are one way I determine my position in relation to other aircraft when flying a traffic circuit (real world).

Interestingly, when you look at your own shadow during (real) flight, there is a lovely circular halo of light around it, that is accented when the shadow falls onto clouds.