Can imported meshes cast shadows?

[Dinkelborg]

Hi, has been a while

 

however I started a new project using BabylonJS,

where I'm importing a model from Blender into a scene,

now for some reason I cannot get it to cast a shadow.

 

I added a cube next to it and it does cast a shadow, 
I'm also adding both the cube and the model to the renderList of the shadow generator..

Any ideas or suggestions what I could try or why it wouldn't work?

[Dad72]

Hi,

 

Maybe your light is not high enough.

[Dinkelborg]

var spot = new BABYLON.SpotLight("Lamp",BABYLON.Vector3.zero,BABYLON.Vector3.zero,2.5,8,scene);        spot.intensity = 1.75;        spot.diffuse = new BABYLON.Color3(0.9, 0.8, 0.8);        spot.angle = 5;        spot.exponent = 8;        spot.position = new BABYLON.Vector3(-17.6, 18.8, -49.9);        spot.setDirectionToTarget(new BABYLON.Vector3(0, 0, 0));

The Building is about 3 unity high as the cube floating next to it is at position.y = 3 

[GameMonetize]

can you try with a directional one?

[Dinkelborg]

I tried with a directional light and with a directional light I cannot cast any shadow at all, however when all mesh parts are kept separate, I can cast shadows with a spot light, but not with everything combined to one mesh

[GameMonetize]

Did you try to change the shadowGenerator.bias ?

 

You can also try to display the debugLayer with scene.debugLayer.show() and use the [Dump rendertargets] button to see the content of the shadow maps

[jellix]

I habe the same question now.

It seems that my imported mesh (OJB) also doesn't cast any shadows while a simple box does.

[lesterhaus]

Hey,

Could you post the part of your code where you push the mesh (or meshes) into the shadowMaps renderList?

Mostly dealing with .babylon imports - but I usually do this inside the callback of e.g. my SceneLoader like this:

BABYLON.SceneLoader.Load(modelPath, modelName, engine, (scene) => {
    // Wait for textures and shaders to be ready
    scene.executeWhenReady( () => {
        
        for (var i = 0; i < scene.meshes.length; i++) {
            let mesh = scene.meshes[i];

            shadowGenerator.getShadowMap().renderList.push(mesh);
            mesh.receiveShadows = true;
        }
    
    });
});

 

[ariespranata]

Hi there,

 

I think I have the same problem and still don't have the solution.

Here's the Playground link

The skull doesn't cast any shadow, while the sphere is fine.

[Wingnut]

Hiya ariespranata, welcome to the forum.

    Imported meshes make great BabylonJS shadows... but sometimes it takes a little adjusting.

http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#JUKXQD#19

For a moment, let's look at the #17 playground... lines 25-32:

BABYLON.SceneLoader.ImportMesh("", "scenes/", "skull.babylon", scene, function (newMeshes) {
     // Set the target of the camera to the first imported mesh
     camera.target = newMeshes[0];
     shadowGenerator.getShadowMap().renderList.push(newMeshes[0]);
     //shadowGenerator.addShadowCaster(mesh);
     newMeshes[0].receiveShadows = true;
     // add stuff here
     // add stuff here
     // add stuff here
});

This red area... is called the loader "onSuccess" callback function.  Now look at the #19 playground.

BABYLON.SceneLoader.ImportMesh("", "scenes/", "skull.babylon", scene, function (newMeshes) {
     // Set the target of the camera to the first imported mesh
     camera.target = newMeshes[0];
     var shadowGenerator = new BABYLON.ShadowGenerator(1024, light);
     shadowGenerator.useBlurExponentialShadowMap = true;
     shadowGenerator.useKernelBlur = true;
     shadowGenerator.blurKernel = 64;
     shadowGenerator.forceBackFacesOnly = true;
     shadowGenerator.getShadowMap().refreshRate = BABYLON.RenderTargetTexture.REFRESHRATE_RENDER_ONCE;
     shadowGenerator.getShadowMap().renderList.push(newMeshes[0]);

     var sphere = BABYLON.Mesh.CreateSphere("sphere1", 16, 20, scene);
     sphere.position.x = 50;
     sphere.position.z = 50;

     shadowGenerator.getShadowMap().renderList.push(sphere);
     newMeshes[0].receiveShadows = true;
});

Notice how I placed MANY things that happened AFTER the onSuccess callback... INTO the callback function "block".  When importing mesh using the sceneLoader, MOST of the JS code needs to happen INSIDE the callback function, and not after it. 

Later, you may wish to use the more-modern BabylonJS AssetsManager... to do your mesh loading.  It is sometimes easier to understand and more efficient than sceneLoader.

I hope I have been helpful.  For fun, I tried to spin the spotlight around the skull, while keeping it aimed at the skull.  http://www.babylonjs-playground.com/#JUKXQD#22  Fun!

[ariespranata]

Thanks, Wingnut! you're a lifesaver. ?

This is my first time using BabylonJS, I'll surely explore the AssetsManager.

Btw, just in case anyone else having the same problem, my actual imported mesh is consists of many mesh(es). It was exported from 3ds Max as a group. Thus, instead of 

shadowGenerator.getShadowMap().renderList.push(newMeshes[0]);

we should use:

newMeshes.forEach(function (mesh) {
    shadowGenerator.getShadowMap().renderList.push(mesh);
});

at first I thought BabylonJS would recognize my 'group' as 1 mesh, but apparently that's not how it's working.

[Guest]

Just for the sake of it, it is also now possible to call:

shadowGenerator.addShadowCaster(mesh);

Because, well, less code is better