New Member - Underdark - Dark Fungi

[mearrin69]

You can do basic shadows that way but they start looking a little hinky (like they're floating) if you do it too much.

One better way is to copy the layer, make it black (paint over it or use color overlay and merge down), shift it a little in the direction of your shadow...then copy that and shift the new layer more. Repeat until you've got a shadow that's long enough for your tastes. Also, it's kind of realistic looking if you use a Gaussian Blur filter on each layer, increasing the value a bit the further you get from the object. When you're done, merge all of those layers together, set the blend mode to Multiply and change the opacity to suit your lighting situation.

If you want *awesome* shadows then you should visualize the silhouette of the object from the point of view of the light source and hand paint that concept onto a new layer in black. Then use the Blur tool to progressively blur it the further you get from the object. I suggest trying this only if you'd like hand cramps, a headache, and a prescription to Zoloft.

Of course, if you have any skill with 3D modeling/rendering tools, they can turn out shadows that are just about as accurate as you can get.
M

Edit: With your map above, however, we don't have any really defined light sources. It's underground, so none of the sunlight we often rely on for shadows in our maps. Your job gets more complicated in the case of something like this...because you're either going to have a very dark map or a lot of light sources (torches in sconces, glowing fungi, whatever) that are going to interact in funky ways. I wouldn't want to tackle it! Maybe somebody with more experience with interior maps can share their experience here. Torstan? Anybody?