Lighting: Shadows don't seem to be soft

[Marcel]

You should see the 512 map size as a 512x512 bitmap, and the 30 sample range as a 30 pixel blur.
The sample range is for offsetting the shadow away from the light, to prevent self-shadowing of surfaces.

I think you should try the same settings on spotlights instead of omni's. Omni's waste a lot of shadow map size (because they in a 360 degree angle around them). Turn on the overshoot function, that way the shadow will show inside the lights cone, but the light will act like an omni otherwise (shining all around).
What I'm seeing in your image is not how it is supposed to look, very weird. Are you sure the shadow type is set on shadow map?

[Matze-NCS]

use more omni lights and make a skydome, that makes the shadows smoother

i have a tutorial which can help you, but it's in german

here is the link: -Link- (http://www.gfx-scene.de/index.php4?go=tutorial&id=12)

[Xilica]

Thanks for the help Marcel, I got it to work with Target Spots instead of Omni Lights. My shdaow type is always set on shadow map.

Also, thanks for the link Matze I'm going to check it out.

[halo]

bias controls how tight the map gets to the geometry

samples control how soft the soft edge is

size controls the overall softness, high values = tighter shadows

omni lights have softer shadows with the same settings than spots because the map is spread across 360 deg rather than spots max 180 deg, and directs are even tighter (however the map relates to the hotspot and falloff sizes)

when none of this works its likely theres a massive scale difference between your lights and you scene

making a scene small compared with the light will make shadows soft even on their highest settings, making it large in comparison can make shadows tight with out large light maps...

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.