Mobile app shadows? Where are they?

SketchUp Viewer
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Is there a way to add shadows in the viewer app?

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I donā€™t see the option :confused:

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The Viewer apps do not yet include an option to toggle shadows on/off, or modify date, time & other shadow settings. You can, however, create scenes in SketchUp with shadows and those scenes will display shadow settings appropriately in the Viewer.

3 Likes
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Is this on the roadmap? It would be great for onsite visualizations. It would add a much needed level of realism.

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While the app doesnā€™t yet offer sliders for controlling date/time or lightness/darkness shadow settings, we have added a checkbox to the View menu that offers the ability to toggle shadows on/off.

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Thanks, @MikeTadros, but what about AR mode? Thatā€™s where shadows would be really nice. Is that on the roadmap?

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@tech-tonic, would you mind sharing a bit more about what youā€™re trying to do in AR? What sort of models are you trying to view (& why)? Aside from shadows, any other ā€˜renderingā€™ features are you looking for (& why)? Are there other apps that are solving this problem for you now?

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Itā€™s pretty simple. Iā€™d like to view models onsite for visualization purposes. I think AR has the potential to greatly simplify creating ā€œin-contextā€ architectural renders. I think it could be a big time saver over compositing 3D models with photographs. Iā€™m currently not doing this professionally but would like to offer services to local architects if I can get a workflow down that results in decent looking visuals.

Following are a few things Iā€™d like to see in AR mode:

  • Ability to place a pivot point (about which the model would rotate) while onsite in order to simplify positioning and orienting the model.
  • Ability to render shadows (with transparency) for more realistic results. Ideally, one could set the darkness, radius (how ā€œfeatheredā€ the edge is), and opacity.
  • Support for geo-referenced models. It would be really sweet if, after adding a location and positioning the model on it, when I went onsite, the app would use my deviceā€™s GPS coords, compass, and current time to automatically render the model on site with accurate shadows reasonably close to where it should be. I could then tweak the position as needed to get a decent result.

Check this post for a bit more detail.

Iā€™m aware of Trimble SiteVision, but thatā€™s overkill and outside my budget. It seems like the technology exists, but the app isnā€™t using the sensors on the device to aid model placement in the real world.

Anyway, those are a few things off the top of my head.

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you need to implement in the application in AR mode the shadow setting for rendering on the ground - it would look more realistic. There is a kubity application - it is implemented in it