Depending on the light source, SpinFire Ultimate will determine whether or not a pixel is in shadow and store this information as a numerical value in a shadow map. The resulting shadows have jagged edges. In order to smooth the edges, random samples of values stored in the shadow map are averaged, which produces a shadow factor that can be used to smooth the border between light and shadow. Resolution - The accuracy of the shadow map is limited by its resolution. Greater resolution uses more memory and can take longer to generate. Values are 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536, 131072, 262144, 524288. Samples - The greater the number of samples, the smoother the shadow edges, but the scene will take longer to render. Values are 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256. Dynamic -By default, the shadow map is recalculated every time the point of view changes. This improves the quality of the shadows, but adds recalculation time. Clear the checkbox to disable for performance improvement. Jitter - When jitter is enabled, a randomizing function is applied to the process of determining where to take shadow map samples. Jitter may improve a scene visually by softening jagged shadow edges. |