what do you think is better HARD or SOFT shadows?

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JangoWuzHere

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#1 JangoWuzHere
Member since 2007 • 19032 Posts

IMO I like hard shadows a bit better

mainly because soft shadows are aiming for "realism" and IMO games like splinter cell chaos theory and F.E.A.R look alot better with hard shadows

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GodLovesDead

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#2 GodLovesDead
Member since 2007 • 9755 Posts
Soft-shadows are easily a lot better looking.
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bungie93

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#3 bungie93
Member since 2008 • 2445 Posts
Soft shadows are more realistic, but hard shadows are much more atmospheric.
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nutcrackr

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#4 nutcrackr
Member since 2004 • 13032 Posts
depends on how they're implemented really. Obviously the aim is to get real soft shadows, not a huge fan of blocky soft shadows.
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Kev_Boy

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#5 Kev_Boy
Member since 2003 • 1527 Posts
In plenty of cases shadows look quite harsh in reality, so soft shadows everywhere are one of the only "better than real life" things games have got aesthetically... don't take that away from us!! :P
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Doom_HellKnight

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#6 Doom_HellKnight
Member since 2005 • 12217 Posts
Most of the time, soft shadowing looks better IMO. However, as nutcrackr said, it depends on how they're implemented.
Soft Shadows don't get along with my current PC, though. :P
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indongga

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#7 indongga
Member since 2003 • 10329 Posts
can someone give me examples of both? lol im curious, i mean give me examples of current games that has them, i wanna see a side by side image lol.
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wood_duck

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#8 wood_duck
Member since 2007 • 990 Posts
Hard shadows, they look awesome and dont have a big impact on performance like soft shadows tend to.
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Fandangle

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#9 Fandangle
Member since 2003 • 3433 Posts
All depends on my mood.
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1carus

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#10 1carus
Member since 2004 • 1454 Posts

can someone give me examples of both? lol im curious, i mean give me examples of current games that has them, i wanna see a side by side image lol.indongga

http://www.tweakguides.com/images/FEAR_10.jpg

This is the basic principle of Soft Shadowing. Granted, FEAR is now a bit outdated, and soft shadowing looks better in games these days, but this is the basic difference between Hard and Soft shadows.

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thusaha

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#11 thusaha
Member since 2007 • 14495 Posts
I prefer soft shadow.
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steve216

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#12 steve216
Member since 2002 • 11446 Posts
I like hard shadows, not sure why. I like it if it were hard and soft shadows, because realistically that's how it is, not all shadows in real life are soft.
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flipin_jackass

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#13 flipin_jackass
Member since 2004 • 9772 Posts
What's the difference?
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Skull338

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#14 Skull338
Member since 2006 • 477 Posts

I like hard shadows, not sure why. I like it if it were hard and soft shadows, because realistically that's how it is, not all shadows in real life are soft.steve216

/agree

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JP_Russell

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#15 JP_Russell
Member since 2005 • 12893 Posts
Well, the only soft shadows I've seen in a game were FEAR's, and I don't particularly care for them in that. They seemed a little too soft. Soft shadowing is a real effect in real life (not sure exactly how it works; I guess it has to do with the distance from the object and the light source, maybe the brightness of the light source, and the distance from the object and the surface the shadow projects upon), but typically not to the degree it was done in FEAR. And as said, hard shadows (or what are hard enough to appear to be totally hard shadows to the human eye) do exist in real life as well, so it'd be nice if games, instead of having a blur effect on the edges of all shadows turned on or off, realistically determined the softness a shadow should have based on the same simulated factors that determine it in real life.
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deactivated-59d151f079814

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#16 deactivated-59d151f079814
Member since 2003 • 47239 Posts
Indifferent, I would go towards hard shadows because of the small performance hit it has compared to soft shadows.. And imo after playing through games with both soft and hard shadows, the difference is negliable and honestly not worth the performance hit in some of these games.
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brain20035

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#17 brain20035
Member since 2004 • 2043 Posts
As long as I don't experiense any performance lags, I prefer soft shadows.
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