Time of Day issues : shadows flickering(tremble?).

[HappyDram]

 Hello.

I used the Time of Day feature to make the sun move.

I made the sun move according to the time of the game world I built.

But these issues arose.

The issue is the appearance of the shadows flickering(tremble?).

It seems to be an issue when the sun is moving, but if the sun does not move, the shadows are rendered normally.

How should we respond to these issues?

 

 

 

 

 

[Bryan]

22 hours ago, HappyDram said:

 Hello.

I used the Time of Day feature to make the sun move.

I made the sun move according to the time of the game world I built.

But these issues arose.

The issue is the appearance of the shadows flickering(tremble?).

It seems to be an issue when the sun is moving, but if the sun does not move, the shadows are rendered normally.

How should we respond to these issues?

 

 

 

 

 

This is interesting, it doesnt seem that your shadows are updating as well. While the sun is moving the shadows are not on anything, as it doesnt seem to be moving on the trees as well. 

Are you using Bakery as well, I can see that in the project. 
 

[HappyDram]

5시간 전 Bryan은 다음과 같이 말했습니다.

이것은 흥미롭습니다. 그림자도 업데이트되지 않는 것 같습니다. 태양이 움직이는 동안 그림자는 나무에서도 움직이지 않는 것처럼 보이기 때문에 아무것도 위에 있지 않습니다. 

베이커리도 사용 중이신가요? 프로젝트에서 확인할 수 있습니다. 
 

 

 

Fortunately, shadow updates are on the way.

 

 

 

If it's a bakery, is it a bakery sold on the Asset Store?

We have bakery assets in the project but not use in the scene.

 

If it's a Lighting Bake, the settings are like this.

It is known as the setting provided by Gaia by default.

 

Are these issues unknown?

 

This is our project environment and Gaia version. I think it will be helpful.

[Bryan]

14 hours ago, HappyDram said:

Fortunately, shadow updates are on the way.

After some investigation it seems this is actually a general issue with game engines: 

A directional light affects a large portion of the scene in its shadow map, and the flickering you are seeing are the individual pixels of the shadow map being constantly lit differently due to the rotating directional light (which simulates the sun). This should not have anything to do with Gaia directly, but should happen in any scene with a moving or rotating directional light.  To my knowledge it is not 100% possible to fix this issue, but you can reduce it drastically by

- Increasing the shadow resolution for your main light
- Setting up shorter shadow cascades closer to the camera, e.g. like so:



- Changing the speed of time of day
- Increasing the time of day in increments or when the player / camera is moving only to hide the issue.

This is something I have seen in some open world games in the past, Skyrim for example is known for moving the sun in intervals only, you can see it in this video: 

for example if you look at the shadow of the fence in the upper right corner just at the beginning.
 

[Josh]

Also to add on what Bryan has already said, it is important to note that you have a steady 30-120 fps to low or too high fps could cause shadows not to be rendered smoothly or in time for the next frame. This has been an issue with unity and other game engines for a while. 60fps is optimal target in most cases which the shadow flicker should not be too much of an issue, and what Bryan said before more shadow resolution and optimizing the shadow render distance and even the shadow cascades should help with the issue.

[HappyDram]

On 2/26/2022 at 4:37 AM, Bryan said:

After some investigation it seems this is actually a general issue with game engines: 

A directional light affects a large portion of the scene in its shadow map, and the flickering you are seeing are the individual pixels of the shadow map being constantly lit differently due to the rotating directional light (which simulates the sun). This should not have anything to do with Gaia directly, but should happen in any scene with a moving or rotating directional light.  To my knowledge it is not 100% possible to fix this issue, but you can reduce it drastically by

- Increasing the shadow resolution for your main light
- Setting up shorter shadow cascades closer to the camera, e.g. like so:



- Changing the speed of time of day
- Increasing the time of day in increments or when the player / camera is moving only to hide the issue.

This is something I have seen in some open world games in the past, Skyrim for example is known for moving the sun in intervals only, you can see it in this video: 

for example if you look at the shadow of the fence in the upper right corner just at the beginning.
 

It was helpful. thanks!!!! 

[HappyDram]

On 2/26/2022 at 4:37 AM, Bryan said:

After some investigation it seems this is actually a general issue with game engines: 

A directional light affects a large portion of the scene in its shadow map, and the flickering you are seeing are the individual pixels of the shadow map being constantly lit differently due to the rotating directional light (which simulates the sun). This should not have anything to do with Gaia directly, but should happen in any scene with a moving or rotating directional light.  To my knowledge it is not 100% possible to fix this issue, but you can reduce it drastically by

- Increasing the shadow resolution for your main light
- Setting up shorter shadow cascades closer to the camera, e.g. like so:



- Changing the speed of time of day
- Increasing the time of day in increments or when the player / camera is moving only to hide the issue.

This is something I have seen in some open world games in the past, Skyrim for example is known for moving the sun in intervals only, you can see it in this video: 

for example if you look at the shadow of the fence in the upper right corner just at the beginning.
 

It was a good solution as a temporary workaround.
but dissatisfied it's a shame.
If HDRP rather than URP would solve these problems?