[Next-Gen Soft-Shadows 2] Sophisticated dynamic penumbra Shadows for Unity

Patch v2.3.2 just got submitted for review. It fixes a Frustum Shadows opacity bug (the value was being ignore for no apparent reason). You don't need to install any library, only update the package to v2.3.2. Expect the update to land sometime tomorrow.
If you need it right away, PM.
[EDIT]
It's live on the store.

 

I'm hitting a problem with all point and spot lights in an AFS project. They render as a pink (no shader) shape when shadows are enabled. No error is raised initially until I try attaching an NGSS component to them, then this error pops up:

Code (csharp):

1. Shader error in 'Afs_Internal-DeferredShading': 'UnitySampleShadowmapNGSS': cannot implicitly convert from 'float2' to 'float3' at Assets/Standard Assets/AFS/Shaders/Resources/Afs_DeferredLibrary.cginc(149) (on d3d11)
2. Compiling Vertex program with SPOT SHADOWS_DEPTH SHADOWS_SOFT UNITY_HDR_ON
3. Platform defines: UNITY_ENABLE_REFLECTION_BUFFERS UNITY_USE_DITHER_MASK_FOR_ALPHABLENDED_SHADOWS UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF1 UNITY_SPECCUBE_BOX_PROJECTION UNITY_SPECCUBE_BLENDING UNITY_ENABLE_DETAIL_NORMALMAP SHADER_API_DESKTOP UNITY_HARDWARE_TIER3 UNITY_LIGHT_PROBE_PROXY_VOLUME UNITY_LIGHTMAP_RGBM_ENCODING

The line in question:

Code (csharp):

1. #if defined(SPOT)
2.     #if defined(SHADOWS_DEPTH)
3.         float4 shadowCoord = mul(unity_WorldToShadow[0], float4(vec, 1));
4.         #if defined (NGSS_SUPPORT_LOCAL)
5.         shadowAttenuation = UnitySampleShadowmapNGSS(shadowCoord, uv); // here
6.         #else
7.         shadowAttenuation = UnitySampleShadowmap(shadowCoord);
8.         #endif
9.     #endif
10. #endif

Edit: Disregard me, all fixed thanks to your help over at Discord! The problem was on my side, I forgot to install your replacement for AFS deferred library.

 

Are you using the provided Afs files that comes with NGSS or is a modded one?
Can you send me that file (PM Discord or email)?
PS: What NGSS version are you?

 

From v2.3 you don't have to mod these assets in order to make it work with NGSS, I've provided a list of popular assets libraries already modded that works 100% with NGSS (UBER, AFS, etc). If you have someting in-house or custom you can send it over and I'll do the changes.

 

A question: What is 'shadow bias library' for? It is noted as optional, but not what it is for. The included doc (pdf) lacks ref to it at all.

 

Hello!

I installed NGSS version 2.3.2 using Unity 5.6.6f2 and when compiling shaders from Amplify I'm getting this error:

operands to "%" must be integral at /UnityShadowLibrary.cginc(121) (on d3d9)

I did the manual installation of the cginclude files and confirmed that the latest ones are in my Unity installation directory. I've also cleared my shader cache and re-imported all assets in my project but still getting this error. Also our project is targeting DirectX 11 as the renderer. Maybe I'm just missing something simple that will fix the compilation issues.

Thanks for any help!

 

Hi,
Seems like you have some shaders with DX9 compile variants which is no longer supported by NGSS. Also Unity removed support to Unity 5.6 and 2017 but NGSS 2.1.x still works fine on Unity 5.6. If you don't have a copy of it, you can ask us on support or Discord with your invoice number.

 

The Shadows bias library is a new normal inset bias algorithm that works in tandem with the basic constant bias to fight acne and peter panning. When using PCSS, you can set light shadows bias to 0 (or very close to it) and tweak the normal bias to your desired value. Or tweak both until you are pleased.
PS: It's also fast (vertex based).

 

Just to verify then - it is being used if installed, no further actions needed to switch to it?

 

Thanks! Haha I guess Unity 5.6 is becoming a dinosaur now. I posted in the discord group and have my invoice number ready since I don't have any older versions of NGSS unfortunately.

 

Yes,
The value for Local shadows can be tweak inside NGSS_Local component and for directional lights is he Normal bias value.
[EDIT] If you are wondering about performance, it's vertex based, you won't notice any perf drop.

 

Folks, don't forget our discord channel for real time NGSS/NGSSEB support or any related graphics performance tips!

 

New improvements, little to almost no noise shimmering at distance with very low sampling (4spp):


Version v2.3.3 is out now. Features and Changes:
- Improved noise algorithm stability. Allows for a great sampling reduction (eg: 4spp) while reducing noise shimmering over distance
- Changed samplers reduction algorithm, now computed at world space instead of view space for a better stabilization when the camera rotates
- Behavior change in NGSS_Local. By default the first instance of NGSS_Local is now the manager, no need to have more than one. Also display warnings if multiple instances of NGSS_Local is detected and shows the user how to correct it
PM discord if you need it right away.

 

Hi,
Does anyone have tips on how to setup cloud build to install the libraries?
Thanks!

 

Hi,
Sure but please head to our discord channel for live support. We don't want to pollute fourms with back and fort answers and questions.

 

Hi there!

I was looking for some info in the PDF doc about the "Shadow Bias" setting but couldn't find any.

I mean, I believe I knew when it first came out but now I'm a bit clueless about when should be appropriate to use it, and how exactly it affects visuals and performance.

Could you please add it to the PDF doc? (if it's not already there )

BTW: I keep cranking the max far smoothness to 4 - pretty happy about it. Any chance of getting the slider max up to 4 by default?

Thanks so much for your asset!

(still crossing my fingers about an URP version or some better transitioning from/to PCSS directional shadows and frustrum shadows - maybe some dithering? )

I know it may affect performance, but I"d love to use frustrum shadows for close grass blades (contact shadows), PCSS in the middle, and again frustrum shadows with different settings for distant elements.

Maybe it's a bit of a corner scenario, but who knows? (maybe lerping 2 frustrum profiles from near to far?)

 

@NeatWolf
The new normal bias algorithm works very similar to the one in Directional Shadows the value represents a geometry (shadow collector) extrusion along meshes normals, and is vertex based (ultra fast).
It is possible to set FrustumShadows the way you described but I don't think that's what the majority of people want. I can guide you how to do it though (can be easily done with a smoothstep function). Get in our discord channel and I'll tell you how.
PS: Yeah I forgot to add notes about the bias library, done for next version.

 

Sounds great!
Having both contact shadows in the Near range and full distant shadows in the Far range sounds pretty dope! (not sure about how should I be interpolating between the Scale on/off tho. Should I lerp scaling from 1 to 0 as well?

Sure I'm going to have a visit on the Discord channel

I know it may sound weird but... would it be possible in the future to get some more intense/larger blur on the frustrum shadows? I only need it for polygonal grass (a geometry shader) and the corner of a few buildings that are a bit.. too hard to blend with the PCSS ones.

 

Its certainly possible to increase the blur iterations of FrustumShadows yes, I will add a note on that.
Heading to bed, we can discuss live tomorrow on Discord about the smoothstep feature.

 

Hello,

one year later, this is still an issue. But with frustum shadows this time instead of contact shadows. Also it happens only after build, works fine in editor.

To reproduce:
1. Create new project, import NGSS v2
2. Open frustum shadow scene demo.
3. Turn on VR and use single pass and OpenVR
4. Build (x64) and run

NGSS 2.3.3
Unity 2019.2.21f1

 

Seems like a Unity bug. If it works on editor, it should work on build.
I will investigate.

 

is the cached shadows out?

 

Not yet.

 

hi,@tatoforever.
is there a way to make Lux plus work with FrustumShadows in deferred path?
Lux plus wants take control of the deferred shader in graphic setting and FrustumShadows wants the built-in deferred shader.
without the deferred shader,Lux plus's translucent shader and skin shader will not work properly.
anyway to solve this?

 

Hey, love this asset!

I've got a similar problem to the guy above me.
It's my understanding that NGSS is supposed to be compatible with AFS (Advanced Foliage Shaders v5). I tried installing the modded AFS stuff that comes with NGSS but it hasn't helped.

Frustum shadows don't seem to work if we have the AFS deferred shader override set in Project Settings -> Graphics.
It's also my understanding that AFS needs that custom shader to support it's deferred translucency.

As an aside, it seems like we could all really use a standardized upgraded deferred library that all these assets could use for translucency, SSS, etc... I'm not ready to move to the mess that is HDRP yet!

 

and ATG (Advanced terrain grass ) support please.
ATG,AFS,Lux plus,they used same deferred shader because they are same developer and they are very popular in the market.
i have old NGSS 1.X in my old project and the screen space shadow works with all of them.
if you can not fix the problem,is that been possible to provide us the old screen shadow for us as a solution?

 

Sorry for the late reply I was all week out (Vacations).
@VirtusH
In v2.3 I provide a custom library that works with AFS and other shader frameworks that changes internal libraries. Look for them inside the NGSS/Library folder.
@dongliang28
Could you please reach me over discord. Send me the Lux files, I can do the changes and we can live test it. Once it work, I will add it to the next update. I think Lux is the only one left.

 

Hi,i joined the discord and sent the core lux plus file to your support email.

 

Got it,
See you there!

 

Does this work well on most modern mobile devices? If theres a device it doesnt work well with, will it fall back to the default Unity shadows or do something else to handle it gracefully? Meaning ... is there a downside to using this on mobile anywhere I would use the built in unity shadows? If I use this instead of a hard shadow directional light, should I expect it to look better and still perform okay on mobile?

Thanks so much!

PS: I own your original ... never had a reason to use it for real, but I do remember it was very nice so hoping to finally use this in something we launch .

 

Hi,
Yes it works fine on anything that support SM3.0 (metal and GLES3.0) or newer. If the hardware can't handle it, will fall back to hard shadows automatically. Performance depends on quality but NGSS is quite optimized for what it does. And yes, expect it to look way better than Unity shadows!

 

Hi!
I did a compare on the current autolight from 2019.4.8f1 with ngss and saw unity has started to use some new (new to me at least, maybe they are old) functions/macros in their setup. Do you have an eta when NGSS will update again so there is less difference from the built in autolight? This type of thing is just a wrapper to a texture sample in unity, but the code concept supports that it may not always be...
UNITY_SAMPLE_SCREEN_SHADOW (instead of UNITY_SAMPLE_SHADOW) is an example of what unity is using in their current autolight.

Thanks, hope your week is going well!

 

@Pheck
Yes, im updating to the latest diff in v2.4.

 

roger! thanks

 

@Pheck,
If you want close to instant answers/support, head to our discord channel.

 

I have already reached keywords limitation can you please tell how many keywords this asset use?

 

Hi,
NGSS_FrustumShadows uses 4 shader_feature_local keywords, so it doesn't count in your global one (which are the ones you are running out). However NGSS_Directional uses 3 shader_feature in current version but already patched for the next update as shader_feature_local.
I suggest to upgrade to Unity 2019.4 and change NGSS_Directional shader_feature into shader_feature_local to get back those keywords. Ain't that much but can save lives if you are close to the limit.

 

I installed this asset again because of Frustum Shadow to make distance shadow but it looks it doesn't work for me! I use Unity 2018.4 and I installed NGSS for directional lights

 

Are you using any custom shader framework? If so, which one?
Are you on Deferred or Forward rendering?
Do you have any picture to share?

 

I use UBER it seems when I change Build-in shader from Uber to Build-in shader it works. That mean it doesn't work with Uber?

 

You need to use the custom UBER libraries provided in the NGSS/Libraries folder
Copy and replace them in the Uber directory, where they reside.

 

I miss NGSS after switching to URP T_T

Shadows are fine for environment it mostly just sucks for characters... It's deffinitely better than standard renderer shadows, so i can tolerate it. But man I'd take anything that would let me blur the shadows more DX.

 

Same here, just with HDRP.

 

I couldn't make Frustum Shadows to work it always disappear on the camera corners when I rotate camera shadow disappears sooner than the camera rotation

 

That's how it works, is screen space based. Data outside the screen won't cast shadows cause is not visible.

 

Hold it tight, is planned for later this year!

 

Hi
I would like to bake Ngss shadows to lightmaps in Unity but when bake was done there is no shadow. I'm trying to bake point lights.
Before baking, shadows were on the scene. Are there some options which I must set?

 

That would be fantastic T_T

Really? I thought HDRP had some manner of better shadow solution. I remember seeing PCSS support.

 

We have a problem with PCSS (v2.3.3). We get noise when using small objects like in the screen below. The complete robot arm is ~1x1x1 unity size (e.g. the default unity cube fits into the boundary). When scaling the model larger, e.g. 3 times the shadows are looking nice again (e.g. no noise). Do you have a tipp for us (besides upscaling)?

 

@Zapan15,
Hi, yes rise the amount of test sampling (from 16 to something around 32). It should start to go away.
Also is important to import your models to the correct scale or shadows could behave wrongly.
Did you installed the directional libraries (to get the denoiser too)?
PS: If you are using cad models you can benefit from this asset (it can improve edges by beveling and gives a soldering touch):
https://assetstore.unity.com/packag...fects/next-gen-screen-space-edge-bevel-173286
Cheers,