manual/render/eevee/light_settings.rst

@@ -13,126 +13,109 @@ lights are another way to add light into the scene.
 The difference is that they are not directly visible in the rendered image,
 and can be more easily managed as objects of their own type.
 
+See :doc:`Light settings </render/lights/light_object>` for settings common to all renderers.
 
-Common
+Shadow
 ======
 
-:doc:`Light settings </render/lights/light_object>` for all renderers.
-
-
-.. _bpy.types.Light.use_custom_distance:
-.. _bpy.types.Light.cutoff_distance:
-
-EEVEE
-=====
-
-Specular
-   Specular Light intensity multiplier. Use it for artistic control. Defines the intensity with which the light object
-   will be visible in reflections on the surface of specular objects, like metals or mirrors.
-   Setting this to 0 will make the light object disappear from specular reflections. Keep it exactly at 1.0 for
-   photo-realistic results.
-Custom Distance
-   If enabled, uses *Distance* as the custom attenuation distance instead of global Light Threshold.
-   In order to avoid long setup times, this distance is first computed
-   automatically based on a light threshold. The distance is computed
-   at the light origin and using the inverse square falloff.
-
-   Distance
-      Specifies where light influence will be set to 0.
-
-   .. seealso::
-
-      Global :doc:`Light Threshold </render/eevee/render_settings/shadows>`.
-
-.. note::
-
-   The light's *Power*/*Strength* affect both specular and diffuse light.
-
-
-.. _bpy.types.*Light.shadow:
-
-Shadows
-=======
-
-Common Parameters
------------------
-
-Clip Start
-   Distance from the light object at which the shadow map starts.
-   Any object which is closer to the light than Clip Start will not cast shadows.
-   *Clip Start* is only available for point, spot and area lights.
-
-Bias
-   Bias applied to the depth test to reduce self-shadowing artifacts.
-   This determines, what size of surface details (for example, bumps) will cast shadows on the object itself.
-   If this value is low, small bumps will cast shadows on the object's surface.
-   This might cause jagged shadow edge between the sunny and shadowy side of the object,
-   but it can be smoothed out by turning on :doc:`Soft Shadows </render/eevee/render_settings/shadows>`
-
-
-Contact Shadows
----------------
-
-This type of shadow exists to fix light leaking caused by bias or shadow map undersampling.
-It uses the depth buffer to find occluders (just like Screen Space Reflections).
-However, just like Screen Space Reflections it has the same limitations,
-namely, unknown object thickness and effect disappearing at screen edges.
+For shadowing lights, EEVEE uses a technique called *Virtual Shadow Mapping* along with *Shadow Map Raytracing*.
+This technique offers better performance than ray tracing and is compatible with any *Render Method*.
+*Virtual Shadow Mapping* produces more accurate results than traditional shadow mapping by putting resolution
+only where it is needed. It also includes a very efficient caching mechanism.
 
 .. tip::
-
-   The distance of action of Contact Shadows should remain quite small.
-   They are not accurate enough to shadow the entire scene.
-
-Distance
-   World space distance in which to search for screen space occluder.
-
-Bias
-   Bias applied to the ray tracing to reduce self-shadowing artifacts.
-
-Thickness
-   Pixel thickness used to detect occlusion, treating any potential occluder as this thick.
-
-
-.. _eevee-cascaded-shadow-map:
-
-Cascaded Shadow Map
--------------------
-
-Sun lights usually illuminate a large scene with many objects, some close, some far away.
-To optimize shadow calculation in this situation, a technique called Cascaded Shadow Maps is used.
-The distance between the camera's near clip and far clip point is divided into as many equal intervals
-(called cascades) as you set the Count parameter below.
-For each cascade a different resolution shadow will be displayed: higher resolution for closer cascades and lower
-resolution for distant ones.
-Do note that cascade shadow maps are always updated because they depend on the camera position or your view origin in
-the 3D-Viewport. This means they have a high performance impact.
-
-.. note::
-
-   In orthographic view the cascades cover the whole depth range of the camera
-   with an evenly distributed shadow precision.
-
-Count
-   Number of cascades to use. More cascades means better shadow precision but a lower update rate.
-
-Fade
-   When the Fade is greater than 0, the size of each cascade (distance interval) is increased so that neighboring
-   cascades overlap. Then a fade is applied in the overlapping region to provide a smooth transition between cascades.
-   Higher values mean the cascade's size is increased more, which decreases the available shadow resolution
-   inside the cascade since some of it is used in the overlapping region.
-
-Max Distance
-   Distance away from the view origin (or camera origin if in camera view) to cover by the cascades.
-   If the view far clip distance is lower than Max Distance, the view far clip distance will be used.
-   Only works in perspective view.
-
-Distribution
-   Puts more resolution towards the near clip plane. Only works in perspective view.
+   - The error message *Shadow buffer full* means that the system cannot allocate.
+     Increasing the :ref:`Shadow Pool Size <bpy.types.SceneEEVEE.shadow_pool_size>` or
+     increasing the :ref:`Resolution Limit <bpy.types.Light.shadow_maximum_resolution>` on some lights
+     might fix the issue.
 
 .. seealso:: :ref:`Limitations <eevee-limitations-shadows>`.
 
+.. _bpy.types.Light.use_shadow_jitter:
 
-Limitations
-===========
+Jitter
+   Enable jittered soft shadows to increase shadow precision (disabled in viewport unless enabled in the render settings).
+   Has a high performance impact as the shadow map cannot be cached and needs to be updated for each render sample.
 
-- Unlike in Cycles, the *Size* of spot lights does not change the softness of the cone.
+.. _bpy.types.Light.shadow_jitter_overblur:
+
+Overblur
+   Apply shadow tracing to each jittered sample to reduce under-sampling artifacts.
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.shadow_filter_radius:
+
+Filter
+   Blur shadow aliasing using Percentage Closer Filtering with a circular kernel.
+   The effective world scale of the filter depends on the shadow map resolution at the shadowed pixel position.
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.shadow_maximum_resolution:
+
+Resolution Limit
+   Minimum size of a shadow map pixel. Higher values use less memory at the cost of shadow quality.
+   Higher values also speed-up rendering of heavy scene.
+   Each shadow is scaled depending on the shadowed pixel on screen. This can create very sharp shadows
+   but also requires a lot of memory if the shadowed pixel is close to the camera.
+   This property limits the maximum amount of detail that the shadow map can capture.
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.use_absolute_resolution:
+
+Absolute Resolution Limit
+   Limit the resolution at 1 unit from the light origin instead of relative to the shadowed pixel.
+   This makes :ref:`Resolution Limit <bpy.types.Light.shadow_maximum_resolution>` act as a regular shadow map pixel size.
+   For example, with this option enabled, a *Resolution Limit* set to `2 * sqrt(2) / 1024` will limit the resolution to 1024px².
+   The `2 * sqrt(2)` refers to the unit cube diagonal.
+
+   .. tip::
+      This setting only exists for compatibility reasons. Do not use it unless you have a good reason.
+      It might be removed in future versions.
+
+   .. note:: The setting :ref:`Absolute Resolution Limit <bpy.types.Light.use_absolute_resolution>` does not exist for Sun Light.
+
+
+Influence
+=========
+
+These parameters modulate the intensity of the light depending on the shader type.
+These are meant for artistic control, and any value other than 1.0 breaks :abbr:`PBR (Physically Based Rendering)` rules.
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.diffuse_factor:
+
+Diffuse
+   Diffuse reflection intensity multiplier.
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.specular_factor:
+
+Glossy
+   Glossy light intensity multiplier.
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.transmission_factor:
+
+Transmission
+   Transmission light intensity multiplier.
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.volume_factor:
+
+Volume Scatter
+   Volume light intensity multiplier.
+
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.use_custom_distance:
+
+Custom Distance
+===============
+
+If enabled, uses :ref:`Distance <bpy.types.Light.cutoff_distance>` as the custom attenuation distance
+instead of global Light Threshold. In order to avoid long setup times, this distance is first computed
+automatically based on a light threshold.
+The distance is computed at the light origin and using the inverse square falloff.
+
+.. _bpy.types.Light.cutoff_distance:
+
+Distance
+   Specifies where light influence will be set to 0.
+
+.. note:: The setting :ref:`Custom Distance <bpy.types.Light.use_custom_distance>` does not exist for Sun Light.
+
+.. seealso::
+
+   Global :doc:`Light Threshold </render/eevee/render_settings/shadows>`.

manual/render/eevee/limitations/general_limitations.rst

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ Lights
 ======
 
 - For now lights can only have one color and do not support light node trees.
+- Unlike in Cycles, the :ref:`Size <bpy.types.SpotLight.shadow_soft_size>` of spot lights does not change the softness of the cone.
 
 
 Light Probes

manual/render/eevee/render_settings/performance.rst

@@ -17,10 +17,14 @@ High Quality Normals
 Memory
 ======
 
+.. _bpy.types.SceneEEVEE.shadow_pool_size:
+
 Shadow Pool Size
    A bigger pool size allows for more shadows in the scene but might not fit into GPU memory and decreases performance.
    Increasing it might fix the *Shadow buffer full* error.
 
+.. _bpy.types.SceneEEVEE.gi_irradiance_pool_size:
+
 Light Probes Volume Pool Size
    A bigger pool size allows for more irradiance grid in the scene but might not fit into GPU memory and decreases performance.