Package com.jme3.light and com.jme3.shadow Android support?

limwerks · August 12, 2014, 4:02am

What lighting and shadowing technique support on Android?
I think it is better for beginner if there is a feature table for desktop and mobile.

normen · August 12, 2014, 8:25am

Most of them, question is how fast they work so it will always be your decision if you can use them or not.

limwerks · August 12, 2014, 4:05pm

But which of them not work? It is hard to guess and very time consuming to try them one by one.

normen · August 12, 2014, 4:42pm

There aren’t multiple lighting techniques, idk what you are talking about?

MikeR · August 14, 2014, 5:39pm

This is potentially a related question, so thought I would post here;

I’ve copied the DirectionalLight code straight from this tutorial ( https://wiki.jmonkeyengine.org/legacy/doku.php/jme3:advanced:light_and_shadow ) and put it in the initialisation of the app on Android.
[java]
final int SHADOWMAP_SIZE=512;
DirectionalLightShadowRenderer dlsr = new DirectionalLightShadowRenderer(assetManager, SHADOWMAP_SIZE, 3);
dlsr.setLight(sun);
viewPort.addProcessor(dlsr);
[/java]

When a couple objects with ShadowMode.Cast are loaded the GLThread throws a RendererException, citing the PostShadow.frag file - ‘The fragment shader failed to compile’

The PostShadow.frag (and others) are definitely available within the Assets directory.

Is there a known issue with shadow rendering on Android, or am I being far too simplistic in my implementation?

Thanks.

pspeed · August 14, 2014, 10:29pm

Could be there is a bug… I think we’d have to see the whole error to know for sure… I don’t know how to do that on Android as I’ve never done anything there.

MikeR · August 15, 2014, 5:54am

@pspeed; Stack trace for the error
[java]
Exception thrown in Thread[GLThread 13888,5,main]
com.jme3.renderer.RendererException: compile error in: ShaderSource[name=Common/MatDefs/Shadow/PostShadow.frag, defines, type=Fragment, language=GLSL100]
Fragment shader compilation failed.
ERROR: 0:41: ‘sampler2DShadow’ : Reserved word.
ERROR: 0:41: ‘sampler2DShadow’ : Syntax error: syntax error
ERROR: 2 compilation errors. No code generated.
at com.jme3.renderer.android.OGLESShaderRenderer.updateShaderSourceData(OGLESShaderRenderer.java:895)
at com.jme3.renderer.android.OGLESShaderRenderer.updateShaderData(OGLESShaderRenderer.java:920)
at com.jme3.renderer.android.OGLESShaderRenderer.setShader(OGLESShaderRenderer.java:978)
at com.jme3.material.Material.render(Material.java:1167)
at com.jme3.renderer.RenderManager.renderGeometry(RenderManager.java:525)
at com.jme3.renderer.queue.RenderQueue.renderGeometryList(RenderQueue.java:322)
at com.jme3.renderer.queue.RenderQueue.renderShadowQueue(RenderQueue.java:331)
at com.jme3.shadow.AbstractShadowRenderer.postFrame(AbstractShadowRenderer.java:478)
at com.jme3.renderer.RenderManager.renderViewPort(RenderManager.java:1005)
at com.jme3.renderer.RenderManager.render(RenderManager.java:1047)
at com.jme3.app.SimpleApplication.update(SimpleApplication.java:252)
at com.augtech.awilaSDK.AwilaARView.update(AwilaARView.java:548)
at com.jme3.system.android.OGLESContext.onDrawFrame(OGLESContext.java:361)
at android.opengl.GLSurfaceView$GLThread.guardedRun(GLSurfaceView.java:1523)
at android.opengl.GLSurfaceView$GLThread.run(GLSurfaceView.java:1240)
[/java]

nehon · August 15, 2014, 6:49am

Shadows are not really meant to work on Android. That said, it could, I never really tested them on it.
The thing is, usually shadows are already pretty expensive on desktop and are going to drastically bump down your fps on android. Usually you’ll want to use more basic shadows like semi-transparent textured quads on the ground. (I’m playing Chaos Ring 2 these times by Square Enix and that’s what they use).
That’s a reason why this has never been a priority.

The error here seems pretty weird, guess sampler2DShadow is not supported on onpenglES. I’ll look into it eventually.

MikeR · August 15, 2014, 6:53am

Thats a shame, but thanks for confirming.
Fps is already a bit of a concern with the terrain loaded, so if they are really going to hurt then it will be best to leave it then.

Empire_Phoenix · August 15, 2014, 7:30am

You could generate a lightmap for the terrains static parts either by hand or in an external application.

MikeR · August 15, 2014, 7:48am

Could you define a lightmap?
All the terrain is static as its come from a real-world DTM…

nehon · August 15, 2014, 7:58am

A lightmap is a static shadow map, usually generated in a 3D modeling software by artists. The main disadvantage is that they are static, so you can’t have dynamic lighting (moving lights), but the main advantage is that they are very cheap, and high quality.

cieri · February 11, 2023, 10:28am

I know this thread is a bit old.
When I stumbled across JMonkey a few years ago, I was very impressed by how easy it is to add dynamic shadows and how impressive they look. Since at that time I mainly wanted to develop something that also runs on my Android smartphone, I was also slightly saddened to miss out on this impressive function there.
In the meantime I work on a somewhat stammed Linux computer. which mainly uses Mesa drivers because it doesn’t have an extra graphics card. If I don’t limit the fps, the games on my smartphone run at least twice as fast as on the computer. The only thing that makes a difference is RAM.

So when I came across this old thread, I wanted to ask if there is a new status on the subject of shadows under Android?

Ali_RS · February 11, 2023, 11:41am

I think there were some shadow related bugfixes on Android in this PR since then

github.com/jMonkeyEngine/jmonkeyengine

Android openGL ES 3 support

jMonkeyEngine:master ← joliver82:android-gl3

opened 12:44PM - 18 Jul 19 UTC

joliver82

+664 -238

Added gles30 and newer functionality for android. All the information at the for…um thread: https://hub.jmonkeyengine.org/t/opengl-es-3-0-and-newer-on-android/41913 Chage list: - Initialize the proper opengl context (2.0, 3.0, 3.1…) - Added Caps for all of the new supported features - Added Instancing as core feature of GLES30 and newer - Properly adding versioning to shaders (#version xxx es) to shaders - Added GLSL320,GLSL310 and/or GLSL300 to most materials depending on the required level for them to work properly - Added depth24 texture usage if hardware supports it - Enabled Geometry shaders and tessellation (3.2 core feature and 3.1 as extension) and fixed compilation errors on the examples - Enabled glBlitFramebuffer - Added GLSL300 to filters not able to work with GLSL100. - Created Glsl300ShaderGenerator to support GLSL300 in shadernodes - Fixed most shader compilation issues (strict type checking, adding OpenGL ES specific extensions, function usage depending on version and some other) - Set default precision to highp solving most filter issues although maybe a little slower. Added specific sampler precision definition for gles300 or newer - Make use of GL_TEXTURE_MAX_LEVEL in GLES300 to avoid black rendering of non complete mipmapped textures - Changed some assets from compressed formats not supported in android to RGB/RGBA depending on the needs so all effects and tests can run also on android - updated precompiled android.jar to have access to newest android API - enabled some other core features of GLES300, GLES310 and GLES320 - Fixed build issues in jme3-android-examples - Added 3D texture and texture array support - Added float texture formats, fixed rgb8 format if having cap rgb8 and fixed glTexImage2D call on AndroidGL - PBRLighting works and any other effect requiring HDR texture formats should work also - Effects and postprocessing - Multisampling Known issues/pending work: - Fixed most issues with shadow rendering in android (GLES 2.0 and GLES 3.0 or better) although some glitches still apear randomly depending on ShadowMode of the nodes and the device - Fixed water filter. Still some rendering glitches in my old redmi3 (gles3.0). The water renders properly but the rest of the scene is overwritten in red. Not reproduced in any other device I've tried

Ali_RS · February 11, 2023, 2:39pm

By the way, for a simple and more performant shadow on Android, you may consider using DropShadowFilter from SimFX:

github.com

Simsilica/SimFX/blob/f39387f3df58536ba1f9a7afa5a979360158bd8f/src/main/java/com/simsilica/fx/shadow/DropShadowFilter.java#L76


      
          import java.nio.FloatBuffer;

          import java.nio.ShortBuffer;

          

          

          /**

           *  A shadow filter that simulates shadows using a simple box-shaped

           *  shadow volume that projects a shadow below the object some distance.

           *

           *  @author    Paul Speed

           */

          public class DropShadowFilter extends Filter {

          

              private static final int VERTS_PER_SHADOW = 8; // one per box corner

              private static final int TRIS_PER_SHADOW = 12; // two per face

              private static final int INDEXES_PER_SHADOW = TRIS_PER_SHADOW * 3;

          

              private static final Vector3f[] BASE_CORNERS = new Vector3f[] {

                                  new Vector3f(-1, -1,  1),  // 0

                                  new Vector3f( 1, -1,  1),  // 1

                                  new Vector3f( 1, -1, -1),  // 2

                                  new Vector3f(-1, -1, -1),  // 3

cieri · February 18, 2023, 10:32am

I’ll test the shadows again for the next Android migration.
@Ali_RS Thanks for the link!