Hi guys,
I’m looking for clarity on how baked shadows work.
I’m doing arch viz, so I’m trying to get nice looking lighting. I’ve read/watched all the tutorials out there on the topic.
Generally, my indirect lighting looks nice. Subtle hue shifts, subtle soft shadows. However, my direct shadows are ugly and blocky. (See attached image, that’s production quality). I know it’s due to my lightmap resolutions; but I’m wondering why indirect shadows look smooth and high res, while darker shadows from direct light look so blocky.
Is there a way to tackle this issue without upping all my flat-surface meshes’ lightmaps to 4k? (My computer normally gives up on the bake if I try that).
I’ve tried changing the shadow resolution scale on my spotlights, but that doesn’t create a noticeable difference. Is there anything else I can try to get smoother looking ‘hard’ shadows, or is pumping up my resolution the only option?
Thanks!
PS - Why is it that shadows can look soft and subtle once ‘bounced’, but direct lighting seems to make at lower resolutions?