Shadows for animated .b3d objects? (paying $$$)

Has anybody done (or does somebody know) a decent shadow system that would work with animated .b3d files? I like Devil's shadow system's speed, but I believe it was only for .3ds files, right?

I would be interested in paying some $$$ if somebody would get me one.

Swift Shadow System working like a charm

Dont quote me on this, but im pretty sure that the AShadow library supports animated B3d stencil shadows.

Hiya Game Producer

Swifts system, with some planning is fabtastic. I wasn't aware of anyone elses shadows system coping with animated b3ds, other than Shawn Swifts.

With Shawns system you can have a high poly main character and run a hidden, synchronised low res version of that character to cast the shadows from, as hidden entities still cast shadows...lovely. Shawn's system handles fully animated b3ds, as well as handles cheaper soft circles, and static shadows. As I say you must be aware of the systems needs whilst planning you levels and characters but once in place it is superb. Commercial and Shareware licensed versions are available and his code is so well commented - it is a delight to use.

The only thing you can't do easily which I found out, was cast onto a pitching surface, such as the deck of a boat which is bobbing around. My SSGB simulation shows off some aspects of Shawns system, check this out on my website:

http://www.smartscreenuk.com/SSGreatBritain001.html

Look closely at images 3, 4 and 5 at the top (click the little numbers under the banner image) shows the system in use, the mast cast shadows into and across the deck and the lifeboats. I got around the rotation problem by keeping the boat and everything attached still, and moving the entire world around me... snigger, that works perfectly in this case.

IPete2.

andreymans shadow system does NOT support animated b3d shadows!!!!

but with the swift shadow system, you're on the best way!

for characters im using Swifty's shadow system..it rocks, for other thingy like rotating platforms etc, im combining Ashadow stencil whats very fast...

Kalisme's shaKAL system does .b3d -- drop him an email and he'll probably be happy to send you the latest version (the links on his site and on here are broken). I'd post a screeny but my Pipex space is squiffy at the moment (bah!)

When are we going to be seeing Swift Shadow System for MiniB3D, eh?

Thanks everybody for quick responses.

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Devil: when are you going to get .b3d working on your shadows system? I'd be happy to pay you some bucks for it :)


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I have tested old sswift shadow system and it seemed quite slow (it was version 1.15 or something) - what's the current version? (sswift worklog page seems to be bit out of order - http://raccoonrocket.com/worklog.htm)

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Sledge: thanks for the info, but couldn't find his email :) If you have the file, how about emailing me ;) (juuso (-at-) gameproducer.net)

kalisme [at] hotmail.com

I've sent you what I've got but you will probably want to chase up the latest version.

Sledge: big thanks! He emailed me.

(But now my .b3d character doesn't work properly :P - cannot cast shadow for the child in the file ;)... we'll see if we can sort it out)

Whoops... forgot to texture the character. NOW the shadows are cast properly :) Thanks everybody.

This current system let's me use about 8-10 character (with a powerful computer) so it might still be too slow... but at least it's fastest thing so far. We'll see how it goes..
(messing with the shadow size now...)

Juuso,

Did you read in my post where - in Swifts system - you can use a lower resolution animated mesh in synch with your actual player mesh? Doing this means that the low res animated b3ds can cast the shadows, hopefully leaving more headroom for more characters.

How many polygons are your characters? Are you using a collision library such as NGC? This too will massively slow down your frame rate if you are sending the animated mesh to that system to gather collision info. Again use the lower res version.

IPete2.

Jusso:
Did you purchase the system? I can't find a reference to either your name, email, or website in any of my records.

If you want the latest version all you have to do is email me at scswift@.... But I'll need some kind of identification, like the name you used to order under, or the order number itself from the confirmation email, or the email address you ordered from.


Sledge:
I appreciate the help, but please don't just send copies of the system to anyone who asks for one, even if they sound legit. If I wanted to give it away for free it'd be in the code archivess. :-)

Dear sswift:


-Sledge

-Game Producer

-Sledge


Apart from the issue of what "old sswift shadow system" Game Producer tested, that should clear things up. :o)

I see now. I didn't notice the mention of that other shadow engine. I haven't heard of that one, I'll have to look it up.

Hm... looks like it uses projected shadows like my system. Probably isn't as optimized/flexible as mine is though.

No that's fine, apology accepted Mr A-Bit-Too-Swift :P

*Cough*minib3dversion?

Sledge:
I just tried to convert the Shadow System to MiniB3D, but I give up.

MiniB3D handles entities and meshes differently from Blitz3D, and I'm not sure how to change my code to make it work. For example in Blitz3D you would pass an entity to GetSurface. In MiniB3D, it wants a mesh. I'm not sure if or how you should go about converting an Entity to a Mesh, and I'm not sure you can. I also don't know what dangers lurk in loading a mesh which has non-mesh entities like pivots embedded in it. How is that handled? There's no documentation.