# confused about shadows **URL:** \ **Category:** Rendering\ **Tags:** unreal-engine\ **Created:** [April 14, 2016, 10:46am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/confused-about-shadows/61094 "2016-04-14T10:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Millionviews](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Millionviews](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Millionviews)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 10:46am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/confused-about-shadows/61094/1 "2016-04-14T10:46:38Z")
Hi there! I am so confused about all the shadow parameters in a directional light. :-/ Basically, I want to control the sharpness of the shadow at close distance and want to control how far this sharp shadow is reaching to make sure details are still visible a few units further away. The light is not moving, just rotating. When I zoom in the editor in and out and really can see a transition fading in the shadow and detailed rocks become more blobbys. So what is the workflow here? Any advice are welcome! Thnx!! best regards! T ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Hobson](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Tim\_Hobson](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Tim_Hobson)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/confused-about-shadows/61094/2 "2016-04-14T12:43:50Z")
Hi Millionviews, Take a look at this Wiki Guide I wrote a while back that should cover some of the basics of using the settings available for the directional light source. > **[A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/a-new-community-hosted-unreal-engine-wiki/141494)** > > After over a year in maintenance mode, the official Unreal Engine Wiki is now permanently offline. These resources now live on a new community-run Unreal Engine Community Wiki — https://unrealcommunity.wiki/! You will be able to find content from... When/if I get some decent amount of free time I need to go back and update this with a few more things, like Far Shadows though. ---
**Author:** ![netseeker](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@netseeker](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/netseeker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/confused-about-shadows/61094/3 "2016-04-14T12:53:26Z")
It is called “cascade shadow map” and you can see it under directional light detail panel. It is basically shadow LOD which is optimized to reduce far shadow cost. What you saw is how it should work. You can increase cascade number to 4 and tweak other parameters but you will not get sharp shadow at long distance as in close range. There is another way to achieve your goal. You can use latest version and switching to “Distance Field Soft Shadow” will provide you better quality on far shadows and may even reduce the cost. Here is the link to what you may want to check: > **[Distance Field Soft Shadows](https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/BuildingWorlds/LightingAndShadows/RayTracedDistanceFieldShadowing/)** > > An overview of using Mesh Distance Fields to create dynamic soft area shadowing. And also check the distance field AO section to learn how to set it to work. ---
**Author:** ![Millionviews](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Millionviews](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Millionviews)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/confused-about-shadows/61094/4 "2016-04-14T13:17:37Z")
> [@Tim Hobson;512614](#): > > Hi Millionviews, > > Take a look at this Wiki Guide I wrote a while back that should cover some of the basics of using the settings available for the directional light source. > > [A new, community-hosted Unreal Engine Wiki - Announcements - Epic Developer Community Forums](https://wiki.unrealengine.com/LightingTroubleshootingGuide#Directional_Light_ONLY:_Cascaded_Shadow_Maps_Settings:) > > When/if I get some decent amount of free time I need to go back and update this with a few more things, like Far Shadows though. Thnx! Very helpful indeed, I’ll take a look at that! ---
**Author:** ![Millionviews](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Millionviews](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Millionviews)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/confused-about-shadows/61094/5 "2016-04-14T13:18:52Z")
> [@netseeker;512619](#): > > It is called “cascade shadow map” and you can see it under directional light detail panel. > It is basically shadow LOD which is optimized to reduce far shadow cost. What you saw is how it should work. > You can increase cascade number to 4 and tweak other parameters but you will not get sharp shadow at long distance as in close range. > There is another way to achieve your goal. You can use latest version and switching to “Distance Field Soft Shadow” will provide you better quality on far shadows and may even reduce the cost. > Here is the link to what you may want to check: > [Distance Field Soft Shadows in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.3 Documentation](https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Rendering/LightingAndShadows/RayTracedDistanceFieldShadowing/index.html) > And also check the distance field AO section to learn how to set it to work. Thnx, that last part did indeed sound like the solution I am after, I took a quick look and noticed however that vertex offset and tess. is not supported. There also will be artifacts. Hopefully this get supported one day.