Re: [Algorithms] It looks terrible (was: Lightmap Terrain)

[Jim O. <j.o...@in...>]

> I don't use any ambient color at all. Instead I use a second directional
> light source (opposite to the sun).

I have read your disliking of ambient light in the other post. I always use
a little ambient light in my scenes - I dislike those totally black shadows,
takes away all the texture... but that's an arguable opinion though.

> I do use the pixel-corners, but I don't average them. This is sort of an
> accident really. Perhaps, I should cast the rays through the center of
each
> pixel. Thanks for reminding me :)

Your welcome. I'd also play with averaging four rays to get a single shade
value, since it should nicely soften the shadow's edges.

> Funny! This is exactly what I did last night :) This made the lightmap
look
> a bit better, but I haven't tried it in 3D, yet.

Well what do you know... Let me know the results. I would certainly like to
know whether it is worth the effort, before I start wasting time on such a
thing.

> Well, I think I'll bite the bullet and try some true recursive ray tracing
> (with reflected rays), today. Technically this is wrong for diffuse light,
> but maybe it looks better, and that's what counts.

Alternatively, you might consider using five (or even more) directional
light sources, each with a slightly different direction and blend the
results together. We always treat sunlight as being parrallel in our
simulations, but it is not 100% parrallel in real life...

Jim Offerman

Innovade
- designing the designer