[Bug] Shadows degrade with increase in camera pitch

[SudevKiyadaTR]

Description

Hi, I have noticed that the quality of shadows tend to get worse with the increase in camera pitch. It looks like the size of shadow map is getting altered with camera pitch. At higher pitch, it just completely turns black. Also, not sure but looks like the shadows are getting obstructed by camera plane?

Flavors

• [ ] Script tag
• [ ] React
• [ ] Python/Jupyter notebook
• [ ] MapboxOverlay
• [ ] GoogleMapsOverlay
• [ ] CARTO
• [ ] ArcGIS

Expected Behavior

I would expect the shadows to remain consistent at all angles.

Steps to Reproduce

I have setup a quick demo over here

Environment

• Framework version: [email protected]
• Browser: Brave (Version 1.74.50 Chromium: 132.0.6834.111 (Official Build) (arm64))
• OS: macOS Sonoma (14.7.4)

Logs

No errors

[felixpalmer]

I am on a MBP M3 Pro, and do not see the issue. Can you test in other browsers? Also what does https://webglreport.com/?v=2 report?

[SudevKiyadaTR]

I am on 2021 M1 Pro and just had a look on Chrome, Firefox and Safari. The bug's persistent for me on all of em.

Doesn't show up any errors on webGL report

[felixpalmer]

I just tried with a 2021 M1 Pro, which gives the same webglreport output and again I don't see the bug. Best thing you could do is pinpoint exactly the version of deck in which this occurs for you, I can't really help if I cannot reproduce it

[SudevKiyadaTR]

I am using

"@deck.gl/core": "^9.1.2", "@deck.gl/geo-layers": "^9.1.2", "@deck.gl/layers": "^9.1.2", "maplibre-gl": "^5.1.0"

Just checking in case you saw this - https://stackblitz.com/edit/vitejs-vite-xey397or?file=src%2Flib%2FMap.svelte

[grahambates-code]

I've noticed this too. Macbook Pro M1 Chrome.

When I have extreme pitch down it seems particularly prominent.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oETO_B8oc3oXNCcOoQxjqq3nBTucwqyD/view?usp=sharing

[felixpalmer]

I meant, check old versions of deck and find the first version where this bug occurs

[SudevKiyadaTR]

I gave it a try and it shows up even on 8.0.0. Anything before that throws 'module is not defined'.

Makes me think if the shadow issue was like this ever since the first build? I tried cloning the repo and running the geojson example locally and increasing maxPitch to 90 also yields the same buggy result.

[grahambates-naturealpha]

Yeah agreed, I think its always been a issue for shadows with certain pitches.

[yaras-phoenix]

Stumbling upon the same issue with pitches from ~72 degrees.

[sychiu]

Can confirm the issue. My shadows start degrading at around 70 degrees. It's still an experimental feature. Personally I think shadows add a lot of aesthetic value to the visualization.