Adding Shadows Using Mesh Shaders
In the previous chapter, we added support for multiple lights using clustered deferred techniques with the latest innovations.
We added a hard limit of 256 maximum lights, with the possibility for each one to be dynamic and unique in its properties.
In this chapter, we will add the possibility for each of these lights to cast shadows to further enhance the visuals of any asset displayed in Raptor Engine, and we will exploit the possibilities given by mesh shaders of having many of these lights cast shadows and still be in a reasonable frame time.
We will also have a look at using sparse resources to improve shadow map memory usage, moving the possibility of having many shadow-casting lights from something almost impossible to something possible and performant with current hardware.
In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following main topics:
- A brief history of shadow techniques
- Implementing shadow mapping using mesh...