how do you modify building shadows?

[chum115]

yes! the heading says it all!

how do you modify building shadows? I have already edited the grp file for the building itself and it looks schmick now i just have to edit the shadows for that building (coz it looks screwed up while in game :P)

thanks
chum

[Aqo]

The shadows are just a different GRP. Edit it accordingly. Black = transparent, Blue = shadow. Open a shadow GRP and you'll understand what this means.

Most shadows use the following filename form: First letter of the race, two letters from building, then "shad".
For instance, the command center's shadow file is tccshad.grp: [T]erran + [C]ommand [C]enter + "shad"

If you can't find a building's shadow GRP, open DatEdit and use the "Jump ->" buttons which should lead you to it.
For instance, if I can't find the supply depot's shadow GRP, I'd open the Supply Depot in DatEdit's unit editor, click the "Graphics" tab, then click the first "Jump ->" and click "Jump ->" a few more times until it leads me to the "Images" header, at which point on the left I'll have "Supply Depot Shadow" two entries under "Supply Depot". Click it, and it'll show on the right that the GRP file is unit\terran\tdeshad.grp (I guess "de" stands for Supply [De]pot)

Once you find and edit a shadow GRP, edit it and only use the black (index 0) and blue (index 1) hues that you see there, any other color will not give you the desired effect.

[U-238]

A quick and dirty method of creating semi-accurate shadows for buildings/units is to open the image files of your building and select all the black around it. Then invert that selection and paint the building completely blue. Then, using the move tool, drag it up and to the right a little and past a new version of your building on top as a seperate layer.(assuming you're using a more advanced image editor) Erase any blue parts that are not visible (aka: under the building layer) and you should be left with a cast shadow.