Modifying an Object's Shadow with IffPencil (pc)
Our game settings allow us to play with shadows turned on or off. Off is recommended for slower machines as keeping track of shadows will use more resources. On can add a really nice touch to the game when the shadows match the object. When they do not, however, they become such a distraction that they can ruin a perfectly fine object.
There are seven different shadows to choose from.
The game does not give us a lot to work with when it comes to shadows. There are seven different shadow shape options to choose from. One is no shadow at all. Two are meant for single tiled objects, one round and one square.
Shadow -1
Shadow 0
Shadow 16
The other four shadows are strong on one side of the tile and fade to clear on the other side of the tile. These four can be assigned to individual tiles of a multi-tiled object and work together to make one large shadow
Shadow 1
Shadow 2
Shadow 4
Shadow 8
In IffPencil you choose which shadow shape you want to use by opening the tile's OBJD and scrolling down to the line that reads "Shadow".
- Enter -1 (negative one) to turn the shadow off completely.
- Enter 0 to use a round Shadow shape.
- Enter 16 to use a square Shadow shape.
- Enter 1 to use a gradient that is dark at the object's front and fades as it moves toward the back.
- Enter 2 to use a gradient that is dark at the object's left side and fades as it moves toward its right.
- Enter 4 to use a gradient that is dark at the object's backs and fades as it moves toward the front.
- Enter 8 to use a gradient that is dark at the object's right side and fades as it moves toward its left.
There's a wide range of Shadow Brightness
The closer an object is to the floor the darker it's shadow will be. A taller object, standing high off of the ground will have a much "brighter" shadow. Translucent objects would also not block as much light and their shadows would be brighter. The screenshots above show a very dark shadow underneath a table and looks unnatural. That table's construction would obviously let a lot of light in around all sides and and shadow the table top cast would be much fainter than that.
Scrolling further down the OBJD in IffPencil you will find two more lines refering to shadows. The second one is Shadow Brightness.
Zero is a "normal" shadow and, as you can see in the screenhshots above, can be quite dark. I don't think I have ever actually used zero for anything. Entering higher numbers will give you fainter, brighter shadows
Shadow Brightness 0
Shadow Brightness 50
Shadow Brightness 100
Shadow Brightness 150
I've not figured out what the "Shadow Flags" line does.
If anyone one has any information on Shadow Flags I'd LOVE to hear about it. A great place for sharing such info would be at the Simblesse Oblige Forums where a copy of this page can be found in the Object Creation and Recolor Shop.