Stacked Wall Shadows
I've created a map in which I have floors at multiple levels with steps between them. In applying the Wall Shadow effect to each of these layers, I found that the shadows didn't fall on or from the steps correctly when the steps were either a symbol or a single poly with a step-like fill. Instead, I had to create individual layers for each step and apply progressively longer shadows to each higher step to get something that looked sort of right:
However, this has two issues:
1) The overlapping shadows from the stacked objects make the center of the shadow much darker than the edges. This isn't really a problem, per se, as it gives the picture a fairly good 3D look in that area, but it contrasts sharply with the shadows cast by a single object (like the columns around the edges of my map) which are of a uniform color. Thus if the two occurred close together, there would be an odd discontinuity in the way the shadows looked. This inconsistency bugs me enough that I'd like to eliminate it if possible. Either I'd like all shadows to have that darker center or for none of them to have it.
2) Objects are placed on different layers based on their relative height (and thus length of shadow), but the shadow they cast is of a fixed length. It doesn't know the height of the surface the the shadow is being cast upon. In my map, this manifests itself in the way the shadows fall on the steps. The shadow line is straight when it should be jagged: as the steps get higher, the shadow should be shorter, leading to a kind of saw-tooth shadow line. I'd like to some how mimic that more realistic shadow line.
Has anyone else played around with creating effects like this and have any suggestions as to how I might make it look better? The map already looks pretty good (IMHO) but the physicist in me gets a little irked by the slight inconsistencies with how light actually works.
However, this has two issues:
1) The overlapping shadows from the stacked objects make the center of the shadow much darker than the edges. This isn't really a problem, per se, as it gives the picture a fairly good 3D look in that area, but it contrasts sharply with the shadows cast by a single object (like the columns around the edges of my map) which are of a uniform color. Thus if the two occurred close together, there would be an odd discontinuity in the way the shadows looked. This inconsistency bugs me enough that I'd like to eliminate it if possible. Either I'd like all shadows to have that darker center or for none of them to have it.
2) Objects are placed on different layers based on their relative height (and thus length of shadow), but the shadow they cast is of a fixed length. It doesn't know the height of the surface the the shadow is being cast upon. In my map, this manifests itself in the way the shadows fall on the steps. The shadow line is straight when it should be jagged: as the steps get higher, the shadow should be shorter, leading to a kind of saw-tooth shadow line. I'd like to some how mimic that more realistic shadow line.
Has anyone else played around with creating effects like this and have any suggestions as to how I might make it look better? The map already looks pretty good (IMHO) but the physicist in me gets a little irked by the slight inconsistencies with how light actually works.
Comments
It's quite time consuming I know but I haven't found any other solution yet...
However, I'm not so obsessed with realistic shadows that I'll take the time to draw them individually. That would take far more time than I'm willing to put into a map like this one.