Shadow rendering questions

Troubleshooting graphics
1

I notice that in jME 3.0Stable both BasicShadowRenderer and PssmShadowRenderer are deprecated.

I’ve been using Pssm in my game for many months, and though I’d noticed some unexpected behavior, it seemed to satisfy my requirements. Does deprecation mean that these classes are no longer supported? Should I report bugs in them? How important/urgent is it for me to stop using them?

I notice that the advanced section of the wiki still documents these renderers in some detail. In the wiki, Pssm is noted as “(deprecated)” but Basic is not.

Also, several of the jme3test apps make use of these interfaces.

I haven’t found much documentation for the two remaining shadow renderers: DirectionalLight and SSAO. How should I (or any other game developer) decide which one to use?

2

Note the javadoc deprecation text…

for BasicShadowRenderer:

for PssmShadowRenderer:

So answer number one to “How should I decide which one to use?” is “read the documentation”, I guess.

Answer two is that “SSAO” is not a shadow renderer but a post-processing effect.

3

Thanks for those tips, @pspeed. Ironic that I missed those details since I’m such a big fan of JavaDoc!

So there’s only one shadow renderer for use in jME3 apps, eh? The wiki gave me a different impression.

4

There is one for each type of light, directional, point and spot lights.
No more basic vs PSSM

2 Likes
5

@Nehon: Aha! The design is starting to make sense now. Plus it opens up exciting possibilities for my game.

I may even try to clean up the wiki, lest others slip into the same confusion.

1 Like