Shadow

    Cocos Creator 3.0 currently supports both Planar and ShadowMap shadow types.

    To enable the shadow effect for an object, proceed as follows:

    1. Select the 3D node that needs to display shadows in the Hierarchy panel, and then set the ShadowCastingMode property to ON in the MeshRenderer component of the Inspector panel.

      set-meshRenderer

    The shadow type can be set in the Type property of the Shadows component.

    The Planar shadow type is generally used for simpler scenes.

    Adjust the direction of the directional light to adjust the position of the shadow.

    ShadowMap

    ShadowMap renders the scene with the lights as the viewpoint. From the position of the lights, the places in the scene that are not visible are where the shadows are created.

    PropertyExplanation
    EnabledWhether to enable the shadow effect.
    TypeChoose the shadow type.
    SaturationSet the shadow saturation. It is recommended to set as 1. If it is necessary to reduce the saturation of the directional light shadows, it is recommended to do it by increasing the ambient light instead of adjusting this value.
    PcfSet the anti-aliasing level of the shadow edge, currently including HARD, SOFT, SOFT_2X. Please refer to the section PCF Soft Shadow below for details.
    MaxReceivedThe maximum number of lights supported for shadow generation, default is 4, can be adjusted as needed.
    BiasSet the shadow offset value to prevent z-fitting.
    NormalBiasSet the normal offset value.
    ShadowMapSizeSet the texture size of the shadow, Currently supports Low_256x256, Medium_512x512, High_1024x1024, Ultra_2048x2048 four kinds of precision textures.
    InvisibleOcclusionRangeSet whether shadows from objects outside of the Camera’s visible range are cast into the visible range, and if so, turns up the value.
    ShadowDistanceSet the range of shadow effects displayed within the visible range of the Camera, with the shadow quality inversely proportional to the size of this value.
    FixedAreaSet whether to manually set the following properties to control the range of shadow effects displayed within the visible range of the Camera, as described in the FixedArea Mode section below.
    NearSet the near clipping plane of the main lights shadow camera.
    FarSet the far clipping plane of the main lights shadow camera.
    OrthoSizeSet the ortho viewport size of the main lights shadow camera, with the shadow quality inversely proportional to the size of this value.

    ShadowMap receives and displays shadow effects generated by other objects when ReceiveShadow on the object MeshRenderer component is enabled.

    ShadowMap is generally used for scenes that require more realistic and complex light and shadow effects. The downside is that if the lights is not moved, then the previously generated Shadow Map can be reused, while once the lights is moved, then a new ShadowMap needs to be recalculated.

    PCF Soft Shadow

    Percentage Closer Filtering (PCF) is a simple, common technique used to achieve shadow edge desampling, by smoothing shadow edges to eliminate jaggedness in shadow mapping. The principle is to sample around the current pixel (also called a fragment), then calculate the ratio of the sample closer to the lights compared to the fragment, use this ratio to scale the scattered light and specular light, and then color the fragment to blur the shadow edges.

    Cocos Creator currently supports hard sampler (HARD mode), 4x sampler (SOFT mode), 9x sampler (SOFT_2X mode). The larger the magnification, the larger the sampling area and the more softer the shadow edges.

    FixedArea Mode

    FixedArea mode is used to set whether to manually control the range of shadow effects displayed within the visible range of the Camera:

    • If this option is unchecked (default), the engine uses the same crop process and camera calculations as CSM (Cascaded Shadow Maps), calculating the range of shadows generated based on the orientation and position of the Camera.
    • If this option is checked, the range of shadow generation is controlled according to the , , and properties set manually. The shadows follow the position of the directional light nodes and are distributed around the directional light bounding box, rather than following the camera.

    For models with enabled in the material, the planar shadow will automatically draw with as well, see the documentation for details.