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Differences in shadow quality between scene and game view?!

Discussion in 'Editor & General Support' started by Whimsical, Oct 21, 2008.

  1. Whimsical

    Whimsical

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2008
    Posts:
    155
    Hi folks!

    I've got a question about a thing I just noticed and I haven't been able to find an answer in the forum yet.

    I noticed that the quality of shadows in the game view (and stand alone running game) differ from the quality visible in the scene view inside the editor. I wonder why that is. The quality settings are supposed to be the same for the game and the scene view, aren't they? So it should look the same in both viewports, right?

    Here's a screenshot to visualize what I mean:



    As you can see, the shadows are all smooth and nice in the left hand side scene view, but are all fuzzy and edged in the right hand side game view.

    This screenshot was made one and the same time, both viewports visible, no settings changed in between, and besides cropping and arranging in Photoshop with no additional altering.

    I am running Unity on a MacPro3,1 with an GeForce 8800 GT installed.
     
  2. Daniel_Brauer

    Daniel_Brauer

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2006
    Posts:
    3,355
    Shadow detail is spread over the visible scene. The image on the right has a landscape in the background, which is reducing the detail of foreground shadowing.
     
  3. Whimsical

    Whimsical

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2008
    Posts:
    155
    I have to disagree. The landscape in the background is not really there. The object in the foreground is rendered by a separate camera with its own set of lights in a separate viewport. So it should have its own shadow map, at least that is how I understood the functionality of shadows in Unity. But please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. :)

    Again: Both shadows should look the same, IMHO. :?
     
  4. Daniel_Brauer

    Daniel_Brauer

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2006
    Posts:
    3,355
    In that case, you're right. Maybe someone from Unity can explain the discrepancy.
     
  5. jeremyace

    jeremyace

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2005
    Posts:
    1,661
    Check the Quality settings, as the editor usually runs in Good mode, and the standalone may differ.

    Edit->Project Settings->Quality

    -Jeremy
     
  6. DrDecipher

    DrDecipher

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2012
    Posts:
    54
    In case anyone stumbles across this thread I have figured this out.

    The perceived shadow quality difference is the camera vs. Isometric view. If you switch the Scene View to Perspective the shadows match. Isometric view appears to compact the view. As such the detail of the shadows appears to be better but it is really the same shadow map.

    ~Doc