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Shadow settings

Learn Soft Shadows, Hard Shadows and shadow resolution.

Shadows

A light casts shadows behind objects. The shadows property of the Light component decides the shadow type: None draws no shadow, Hard Shadows draw sharp-edged shadows, and Soft Shadows draw soft-edged shadows. Soft shadows look more realistic but cost a bit more processing power.

isik.shadows = LightShadows.Hard;
isik.shadows = LightShadows.Soft;

In simple scenes hard shadows can be enough as well.

Shadow resolution

Shadow resolution decides how much detail a shadow is drawn with. As resolution rises, shadow edges get cleaner, but memory and processing cost increase. So choosing a low or medium resolution depending on the number of lights in the scene keeps performance safe.

isik.shadows = LightShadows.Soft;
// higher resolution cleans the edges

Resolution keeps a balance between shadow quality and performance.

Practice Update the shadow type

In a class named GolgeAyar, first define a string golge field with the value "Hard". In the Start method, set the golge value to "Soft" and print the text "Golge turu: " joined with golge using Debug.Log.

Starter code

Player.cs
using UnityEngine;

public class GolgeAyar : MonoBehaviour
{
    // string golge alanini "Hard" degeriyle tanimla

    void Start()
    {
        // golge degerini "Soft" yap
        // "Golge turu: " metnini golge ile birlestirip yazdir
    }
}

Sample solution

Player.cs
using UnityEngine;

public class GolgeAyar : MonoBehaviour
{
    string golge = "Hard";

    void Start()
    {
        golge = "Soft";
        Debug.Log("Golge turu: " + golge);
    }
}

Expected output

Golge turu: Soft

Questions and answers

Review the lesson questions together with their answers. To test yourself, solve the lesson interactively.

1 Which shadow type has sharp, well-defined edges?

  • Blur Shadows
  • Soft Shadows
  • Hard Shadows Correct answer
  • None

Explanation: Hard Shadows draw sharp-edged shadows; Soft Shadows soften the edges.

2 Soft shadow setting

Question 
isik.shadows = LightShadows.____;
Answer 
isik.shadows = LightShadows.Soft;

Explanation: LightShadows.Soft gives soft-edged shadows; since the setting asked for is a soft shadow, the correct answer is Soft.

3 Shadow settings

Term Meaning
None No shadow is drawn
Hard Shadows A sharp-edged shadow
Soft Shadows A soft-edged shadow
Çözünürlük The detail level of the shadow

All lessons in Intermediate

1 3D model

  1. What is a Mesh?
  2. MeshFilter and MeshRenderer
  3. Primitive objects
  4. Importing a model
  5. Assigning a material
  6. Summary - 3D model

2 Lighting

  1. Light types
  2. Shadow settings
  3. Ambient and environment
  4. Baked vs realtime
  5. Lightmap baking
  6. Summary - Lighting

3 Material

  1. What is a Material?
  2. Albedo and color
  3. Metallic and Smoothness
  4. Normal map
  5. Assigning a material
  6. Summary - Material

4 Animation

  1. The Animator component
  2. Animation Clip
  3. State machine
  4. Parameters
  5. Triggering from code
  6. Summary - Animation

5 Audio

  1. AudioSource and AudioListener
  2. Importing an AudioClip
  3. Play and Stop
  4. 3D sound
  5. Grouping with a Mixer
  6. Summary - Audio

6 UI (Canvas)

  1. What is a Canvas?
  2. Text and TMP
  3. Image and Button
  4. Rect Transform
  5. Layout groups
  6. Summary - UI Canvas

7 Particle System

  1. What is a Particle System?
  2. Emission and Shape
  3. Color over lifetime
  4. Start Size and Rotation
  5. Play and Stop
  6. Summary - Particle System

8 Coroutine

  1. What is a Coroutine?
  2. IEnumerator and yield
  3. WaitForSeconds
  4. StartCoroutine
  5. StopCoroutine
  6. Summary - Coroutine

9 Prefab

  1. What is a Prefab?
  2. Creating a Prefab
  3. Prefab instance
  4. Spawning with Instantiate
  5. Prefab Variant
  6. Summary - Prefab

10 Scene management

  1. Build Settings
  2. SceneManager.Load
  3. Additive loading
  4. DontDestroyOnLoad
  5. Async loading
  6. Summary - Scene management

11 Godot 3D

  1. MeshInstance3D
  2. Camera3D
  3. DirectionalLight3D
  4. StandardMaterial3D
  5. RigidBody3D
  6. Summary - Godot 3D

12 Signal

  1. What is a Signal?
  2. Built-in signals
  3. The connect method
  4. Custom signal
  5. emit_signal
  6. Summary - Signal

13 Inventory project

  1. Project: Inventory design
  2. Item class
  3. Inventory list
  4. Add and remove
  5. Printing the inventory
  6. Summary - Inventory

14 Intermediate final

  1. Challenge 1: Material assignment
  2. Challenge 2: Coroutine delay
  3. Challenge 3: Godot signal
  4. Challenge 4: UI button
  5. Challenge 5: Final synthesis