Shadow issue over textures

[armatech 8]

hi as you might know im creating a full predator mod for arma but im having a few issues with shadow volumes creating some real strange effect over the texturs inside am i missing something?

Normal:

With Shadow:

[I.M.G. 0]

Would not the interior lights negate the need for internal shadows?

[armatech 8]

there internal and external shadows also shadows would be cast from internal light scorce's but thats not what im asking here. Its more of a why is it doing it so that i can correct the issue.

[armatech 8]

issue fixed by dulling down the shadow lod with one big box then reversing the faces giving me the required shadow outside from lod 0.000 with out any shadows being cast internaly its a work around but hey who cares lol.

Thanks for the input I.M.G as it got me to think in a diffent direction.

[Messiah 2]

firstly I'd ask why the 'normal' model has lighting errors? Those will impact how the shadows react to the surfaces.

[armatech 8]

i don't understand what you mean? plz explain.

[Messiah 2]

well, unless my eyes are playign tricks on me, in the first screenshot, I assume those parts at the bottom are indented areas? as in, they are extruded inwards from the wall?

but the lighting is not being calculated correctly, hence why you get the funny bands of light and dark in the first screenshot. I'm not sure what shape the indent has, but at the very least you need to select the edges where the indent meets the wall and press U - that will help the lighting. If the indent is a square, the simply select the whole mesh and press U. If it has a curved shape, the select each side of the curve (but not the curve itself) and press U

(or post a pic of the mesh and I'll label it)

I ca't guarantee it will fix the shadow errors, because shadows seem to do as they please in ArmA, but its always a good idea to rule out all problems first.

[armatech 8]

I take it the U key is to do a sharpen phase on the faces if so i tryed this ages ago but with no luck. But Ill give it another try when i get back from work as i have changed some of the model and might have fixed another issue.

Thanks again ill post of some wireframes as soon as i get back home if needed.

[Messiah 2]

you sometimes have to be quite careful with certain shapes and using the sharpen tool - if you get stuck, post the wireframe and I'll have a peek - I know what you mean with sharp smooth faces not always working... sometimes I've had togive up and leave it.

[armatech 8]

thats what i feel i have had to do with this. but ill take a wireframe now gimme a few mins

[[aps]gnat 28]

I'm fairly sure that if your shadow lod is not exactly the same (shape) as your (first) Resolution LOD you will always get odd effects were one differs from the other.

[Messiah 2]

unless you reverse it which will fix those errors (but you'll lose some of the shadow details)

armatech, I meant a wire frame of the area in question