Ray Marching Soft Shadows in 2D
14 days ago
- #GraphicsProgramming
- #RayMarching
- #WebGL
- The article discusses a graphics project using distance fields for lighting effects.
- Distance fields are images indicating how far each pixel is from a shape, used to generate shadows.
- Ray marching is introduced as a technique to efficiently determine shadows by advancing along rays based on distance field values.
- The article explains a soft-shadow technique that adds a penumbra around hard shadows for aesthetic appeal.
- Three rules are outlined for computing soft shadows, focusing on proximity to shapes, distance from almost-intersections, and light attenuation.
- The implementation involves GLSL code snippets for ray marching and shadow computation.
- Banding artifacts in shadows are addressed with improved approximations and random jitter techniques.
- The author acknowledges inspiration from Inigo Quilez and seeks feedback for further improvements.