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What is causing "shadow banding"


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Hi!

I have noticed this here and there every once in a while, but now that I'm finally building a map with aesthetics in mind, I think it is time to dig deeper into this. So what is causing this banding with shadows, and how I'm able to prevent it from happening? I understand that it must be some kind of limitation with the engine, but just knowing how to avoid it would be awesome! Thanks again for any tips.

20180123205638_1.jpg

Edit. Oh, numerous times I've been asked to send a map for an example. I would, but noobish question... How? What files I should include? Is there an easy way "create" a file that includes everything you need to run a map on another computer? Thanks again.

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Jesus, I got it! First of all, it only happens with spotlights and if you have more than one on the same area. Point lights cause no banding/stripes. With spotlights, you can greatly reduce or even get rid of it by randomly rotating them around Y-axis to make sure they are not "lined up" with each other.

 First image shows situation where banding occurs:

image.thumb.png.9740eb2cd9921195687be64825f88c92.png

And here all four spots are rotated randomly around Y axis, and banding is gone:

image.thumb.png.9ff2c65cbc06949ac3edc400102b5979.png

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This is a side effect of the real time lighting system. All modern engines have this issue and ways they try to mute it; most commonly baking the lighting.

A while back, Josh was experimenting on filtering out but this resulted in everything looking grainy. The code is still in the shaders commented out if you want to experiment with it.

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Cyclone - Ultra Game System - Component PreprocessorTex2TGA - Darkness Awaits Template (Leadwerks)

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