Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Any issues, problems or troubleshooting topics related to the Prepar3D client application.
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Mike Sierra
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Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Post by Mike Sierra »

Since l_o_n_g (I'm not sure, whether it already existed in P3D v2, but I know it from v3.x and now, v4) there is an issue with sunlight and shadows:
Especially when the sun is low above the horizon, one can - kind of - turn on and off the sunlight and its shadows, simply by changing the viewing perspective.
Here's an example (from a small Norwegian airfield at the shore of Barent's Sea - having low sun):

First image (sun shines, shadows visible):
Image

Second image (no sunshine, no shadows):
Image

With the AI service vehicle you can see that there are only seconds between the two images, no changes in weather, settings or whatelse done, only panned the point of view a bit to the right. Panning left and right toggles the direct sunlight on and off.
This is observable in (nearly?) all situations, when the sun is low - never saw it with high sun.
Michael.
(Else P3D v4 is simply awesome!)
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Beau Hollis
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Re: Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Post by Beau Hollis »

It looks like the entire scene is in shadow. Are terrain shadows on? Are there hills or large buildings off to the left? It might be that something far away is coming back into view and then casting a shadow on everything else.
Beau Hollis
Prepar3D Software Architect
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bicha36
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Location: La Paz - Bolivia

Re: Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Post by bicha36 »

I saw something similar in P3Dv4, but it's very hard to repeat or replay this issue, 90% of all situation are fine, the rest are little issues regarding to shadows. In all tests I noticed that can happen with terrain shadows turned on or off. I had not thought about something far away. I'll keep testing.
Walter Almaraz

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stevefocus
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Re: Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Post by stevefocus »

I have had this issue appear before, only happened once that I could remember.
P3Dv4.5, Windows 10 64bit, i7 6700k@4.6GHz, Asus Rog Maximus VIII Extreme, Asus Rog Strix 1080Ti, 32GB Corsair Vengeance@3200MHz, 1TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2, 256GB OCZ Vertex 4, 512GB OCZ Vector, 480GB OCZ Vector 150, Corsair 900D, Corsair AX1200i, Acer X34
stripealipe
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Re: Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Post by stripealipe »

I get this regularly with cloud shadows when panning. I'm using ezDok for what it's worth..
Sethos
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Re: Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Post by Sethos »

I believe that's because of the culling effect as you pan away from clouds or other objects that throw shadow. You can look at a cloud that throws a nice shadow, pan away so it's outside your field of view and it's not being rendered any more, thus it won't throw a shadow. Pan back, cloud is rendered again and so is the shadow.

Actually one of the most visually annoying elements in P3D I find.
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Brady Butler
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Re: Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Post by Brady Butler »

Hello,

To help us track down this issue, do you still see this behavior if you turn cloud shadows off?

Regards,
Brady
Brady Butler
Prepar3D® Software Engineer
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Brady Butler
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Re: Turning on /off shadows by view panning

Post by Brady Butler »

I'm going to preemptively lock this thread under the assumption that it's the same issue as the one I link below, there are quite a few threads of this same issue. If there are further questions regarding this issue, please post in the thread below.

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic ... 4&t=125862

If this behavior is still seen with the shadows cloud casting marked off, please create a new post and mention this behavior is still being seen with cloud shadows off and link this thread.

Regards,
Brady
Brady Butler
Prepar3D® Software Engineer
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