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Transparent floor that receives shadows in Unity

JavierBayAreaJavierBayArea ✭
in Questions And Answers

Hi,

I would like my 3D objects to cast their shadows not only on other 3D objects but on the real life floor, walls, (represented by planes)

For this I would need a material that is transparent and that can receive shadows at the same time.

Is it possible?.

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    DeckTwelveDeckTwelve ✭✭

    Hi Javier,

    I've been thinking about this also and, yes, it's possible to get real-time shadows like this, but it's probably not worth the performance costs for most applications.

    I'm working on a set of shaders to make this as performant as possible and will share the code when it's ready to be consumed and has been tested on an actual device. In the mean-time, here's a screenshot of what I've been able to accomplish so far in the emulator.

    Some things for you to consider in evaluating real-time shadows such as this

    1. Your draw call count is going to increase by a LOT. My project went from ~4-8 (regardless of object count) to ~25 minimum, plus an additional 3 for each object casting a shadow.
    2. If your light source doesn't move and you're comfortable with a 16-bit era drop shadow on the ground then there might be cheaper ways to go.
    3. From what I've read, Unity won't let you have objects that are transparent also cast shadows. So, you'll lose the ability to gracefully fade out shadow-casting objects as they approach the camera
    4. Since black is transparent, the shadow needs to be lighter than it might be otherwise, which might look odd in some situations

    Can you tell me more about what you want your scene to look like and how the user will "use" the shadow?

    More info to come.

    -Matt

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    DeckTwelveDeckTwelve ✭✭

    Circling back on shadows. I did a blog post on the shaders and am in the process of getting them up on the Asset Store. You can read more about it here.

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    SashaFCSashaFC ✭

    Hi @DeckTwelve is there any update on this? Did you manage to create an asset?

    Thanks!

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