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)