halo 2...multiple shadows cast....(I'm probably late)

[AlNom]

yeah... so I was just going through the E3 2003 demo... and I noticed that the ghost was casting quite a few shadows..... yeah... so it took me over a year to notice, but it's a nice "surprise". 8)

anyhoo.... what goes on when casting multiple shadows... eats up fillrate like crazy or....

 

[Eagle-Vision]

Aren't the stencil shadows gone from the game?

 

[AlNom]

where'd you get that idea? It was in the single player last year..... probably gone in multiplayer for performance reasons....

 

[archie4oz]

Aren't the stencil shadows gone from the game?

Looked like it to me from what I saw...

 

[Eagle-Vision]

where'd you get that idea? It was in the single player last year..... probably gone in multiplayer for performance reasons....

This picture is from SP:

 

[Polarbear53]

The only thing I don't like about that picture is the floor doesn't look that good.

 

[AlNom]

This picture is from SP:
....

this is not stencil? (sorry, I don't know the different types of shadowing so....um...ya)

MC is self-shadowing....

 

[Eagle-Vision]

this is not stencil?

Nope, those are lightmaps.

 

[Polarbear53]

In the bungie weekly updates they talk about lightmaps, so they do use them in the game. But what about lightmapping the levels and stencil shadowing the people?

ADD ON:

Just saw someone say stencil shadows add geometry onto a figure( not a genuis at realtime graphics yet). Well they did take conciderable geometry out of the MC in halo 2(20%-40% don't remember) , that could add to my theory that the geometry has gone to the shadows.

big picture is here : http://bungie.net/images/Games/Halo2/screenshots/H2_e304_eliteoverlook.jpg

This doesn't look like it uses stencil shadows. So this may show how multiplayer and singleplayer have different graphics(thats what bungie said).

 

[Eagle-Vision]

It looks like you overlooked the picture I posted. It's from single player mode, and it doesn't feature stencil shadows.

 

[aaaaa00]

I would expect they'd use stencil shadows where appropriate, and not use them when not.

 

[Goldni]

Conker 64 had multiple shadows cast dynamically. JFG did as well. This is'nt anything new.

 

[Deepak]

What are different kinds of shadows and how are they created? What kinds of shadows SH3 (PS2) uses bec'se they are best I ve seen on PS2 till now.

 

[akira888]

this is not stencil?

Nope, those are lightmaps.

It's probably a shadowmap from what I can tell - there appears to be some strange "blockiness" on the ground directly under Master Chief's rifle.

 

[cybamerc]

The shadows in Halo 2 are done with shadow buffers. Bungie dumped stencil shadows a long time ago (the pic in this thread was the first one showing off the new shadows btw). Bungie is also using lightmaps on the environment for static lights.

It's not quite a Doom 3 type renderer anymore.

 

[London Geezer]

What are different kinds of shadows and how are they created? What kinds of shadows SH3 (PS2) uses bec'se they are best I ve seen on PS2 till now.

Silent Hill 3 had stencil shadows. Impressive because they're soft too, whihc is something that's kinda hard on any other platform, and looks best.

 

[overclocked]

Yes SH3 is "beautiful".. Oh well to topic.
When you look at the movies of H2 they use stecilon the caracter´s only, atleast that what i have seen. I doubt they would take away this feature of the game so late in development.

 

[AlNom]

The shadows in Halo 2 are done with shadow buffers. Bungie dumped stencil shadows a long time ago (the pic in this thread was the first one showing off the new shadows btw). Bungie is also using lightmaps on the environment for static lights.

It's not quite a Doom 3 type renderer anymore.

darn........


edit: take a look at these mag scans (xbox gamer issue is no longer on shelf). If you look at page 5 and 6 (single player), what kind of shadowing is that?

 

[cybamerc]

If you look at page 5 and 6 (single player), what kind of shadowing is that?

Shadow buffering I reckon.

 

[Polarbear53]

It looks like you overlooked the picture I posted. It's from single player mode, and it doesn't feature stencil shadows.

Yup, woops