Basic shadows that cast only on the ground

[squisher]

Hi all, I know there are a million threads on this but I was just hoping if anyone had a simple working solution in place.

I am writing a very basic 3D game for my kid and I don't need any kind of impressive graphics, just the most basic shadows that have 1 and only 1 purpose: to see how far an object is from the ground. I dont need shadows to hit any other object, i dont need sharp edges on the shadows, I'd even be happy with just a fuzzy circle. (The built-in shadows are unusably slow.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Seven]

an easy method would be to load up a small circle texture (or whatever rough shape your object is) and apply it to a thin cube scenenode. (Y scale of .1) and use transparency
test a ray from the light source through the center of the object in question and to the 'floor'.
At the intersection, scale the circle textured node as a function of the distance from the light source and then render it.

it wouldnt be scientific, but it would give you a nice, easy 'shadow'

[hendu]

If you have < 4 casters, you could also easily do that in your terrain shader.

[thanhle]

Search for decal source code in the forum.
I think that will make a good shadow under the feet.

Don't ask me how to use it. I personally haven't use it. But I think it might work for your purpose.

Regards
Thanh