Yes, I plan to have the fish and invertebrates cast chadows on the other objects, but only when they are very close. If you look at a real saltwater tank, the lighting is so diffuse that once a fish is an inch or so away from something, it no longer casts a shadow on it.
As for your other question, if you are speaking of light rays shining through the water itself, that just means one thing in a real tank - dirty water. Programming-wise, it would involve volume textures, which are extremely difficult and a real resource-hog.
If you are speaking of lightplay cast diagonnaly down the rear glass (actually a board behind the glass in a real tank), that is do-able, but also uses a lot of bandwidth. I'm considering it as an option.
|