What is the main difference between regular shadow maps and virtual shadow maps?

Hey team. In terms of the actual implementation, how do these two techniques differ? Is the main difference just that VSM renders all shadow maps into a single atlas?

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VSM is basically the Nanite visbuffer (works on a cluster culling basis) but for a really high resolution shadowmap.

You can learn about visbuffer rendering here: https://youtu.be/Q0yfz8GO9ic?si=X2Ge6Pze0TY_vJDW (it’s not a matter of self promotion, it’s because there aren’t better videos on the topic)

To read more just go to the VSM 5.2 documentation here
https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.2/en-US/virtual-shadow-maps-in-unreal-engine/.

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Highly informative: Virtual Shadow Maps in ‘Fortnite Battle Royale’ Chapter 4 - Unreal Engine

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