7 replies to this topic

[Kablammo11]

Well, it had been bothering me for some time that I could not see any shadows being cast by trees and objects in my Unity prep works - Mike Jones legendary "Build Hole in 5 minutes" video, for instance, clearly shows that each added tree instanty casts a shadow. Today, devoting a few minutes to this issue (code for: clicking on stuff until I randomly hit a possible solution) I found out that you need to "tell" the light source that it should cast a shadow, by accessing it in the inspector window. Sure, why not? Makes sense... Upon trying to triumphantly overcome this obstacle, I hit a snag. It looked like this (click to enlarge):

 

[attachment=114:Anothersnag.jpg]

 

"Realtime shadows require Unity pro" - There is no point wishing this rotten, overcommericalized world were less prone to violently kick me in the you-know-whats every two and a half minutes - it is what it is. Also, since I'm using the free version of Unity, I can't expect to get all the stuff the pros pay 1'500 bucks for. 

I do feel, however, that being able to see shadow being cast over my designs would be some sort of an information that I will need when things start in earnest with the CourseForge, to tell if a green is in the shade, perhaps to plant a strategic tree so that it's shadow cuts across a large patch of fairway, just to give it some depths etc. You know, design stuff… So: Double questions to those in the know, just to make sure.

 

1. Is there a workaround to circumvene the shadow monopoly of the pros?

(Expected answer: no)

 

2. Though I won't see shadows in Unity/Course Forge, will they be there in the game in the end?

(Expected answer: yes)

[axe360]

I hear ya brotha!  Here is one example of how TW's PC Series worked there course designer..

 

All the stock courses that EA did, cart paths were able to blend right over textures without a break in the cart paths.

 

Now the Course designer (CA) that We were given With the game, didn't have that capability..  So you had to stop and start the path every time you went across textures.. Let me tell you, it could be a real bitch sometimes...

 

This is just one example, where the Company (EA) had there own Course designer and the public had one with less capabilities.

 

So, we may not get what PG has exactly.. Of course, I have no way of knowing, just going by past experience which may or may not apply in this case.

[Kablammo11]

I know, Axe. And yes, I too strongly suspect that PP will want to keep an edge over course design and not share all its secrets and pro-tools with us lowly amateur plonkers. Fair enough, though, that's human nature (and also a commercial necessity). I would not act differently if I were in charge, so: no grief to them from me.

 

Also, this is not a "Gotcha! I knew it!" thread aiming to expose systemic flaws or to drag uncomfortable truths into the open. I mainly brought this up because in the other thread related to this Mike Jones assured us that the view in the game would be the same as in Unity/CourseForge.

That is not quite true - and Mike probably is so far into pro design that he may have failed to notice this at all: We already know that realtime shadows aren't being rendered for us guys using the cheapo version (is there an unreal-time mode of rendering them? Lightmap?) and that reflections and specular highlights on water planes are not possible. These two things alone - are there more? - impose some rather severe restrictions on the esthetic capabilities of the free Unity vesion. And this would mean that, no, we will not get a visual feedback inside the CourseForge that will accurately correspond to the final in-game view. 

 

If I know that to be the case, I will be able to deal with it somehow. I can adapt, prepare, extrapolate, fashion my design routines and include visual tests in the PG practice modes. No problem. I just wanted confirmation.

In all fairness it would be foolish for us to ask for everything out of nothing (nothing as in: zero money payed by us).

[shimonko]

Would you like the good news or the good news?

The good news is you can upgrade to Unity 4.2 Free for free.

The other good news is 4.2 no longer requires the Pro version for realtime shadows.

However:

• they only allow one light source (not a problem except for the driving range at night)
• hard shadows only--which is more annoying, but at least you'll be able to see the effect on shadows during design.

I imagine there will be people (or a converter) that will convert courses done in Unity Free to Unity Pro (e.g. changing water types, shadow types) as we'll all have access to Pro features in the game (if I'm understanding this world correctly).

[shimonko]

Non realtime shadows are of better quality however so I'm undecided whether I'd prefer seeing the course at different times of the day or the topmost quality at one time.

[Kablammo11]

Thanks for the good news, shinmonko, both of them. 

[Mike Jones]

I see no reason why we shouldn't have real time shadows in PerfectGolf for all courses produced with CourseForge regardless of whether they are created using the pro version of the unity editor or the free one.

[shimonko]

Is it worth getting up to speed with lighting in Unity or will the lighting come from the game instead of the course file?