Author Light component reference

[chanmosq]

No description provided.

[mrieggeramzn]

With regards to ESM+PCF, I would state that the way it works is that "ESM is used for the primary algorithm, but it falls back to PCF in areas where ESM would fail"

[chanmosq]

I updated the description to

Set the shadow filtering method to reduce aliasing in the shadow map. The supported methods are Percentage-Closer Filtering (PCF) or Exponential Shadow Maps (ESM). ESM+PCF uses ESM, but falls back to PCF in areas where ESM might fail.

[invertednormal]

I think one thing that's missing is a more general explanation of what each type of light is. Doesn't need a long explanation, but just something that goes beyond the shape. This possibly could be combined with the current bullet list at the top to give a brief explanation of each type plus the things already pointed out.

Point (Sphere) - Emits light from the surface of a sphere. Best for emulating lights that emit in all directions like standard light bulbs.

Point (Simple Punctual) - Emits light from a single point in space. Less photorealistic than a sphere light, but cheaper.

Spot (Disk) - Emits light from a 2d circle in 3d space. It is a good choice to emulate can lights and spot lights. Shutters can be added to constrain the light to a cone.

Spot (Simple Punctual) - Emits light from a single point in space constrained to a cone. Less Photorealistic than a Spot (Disk) light, but cheaper.

Quad - Emits light from the surface of a rectangle in 3D space. Good for lighting a larger area with diffuse light. By default uses linearly transformed cosines for an accurate result, but also supports a fast approximation mode that is only about 5x as expensive as a point light.

Polygon - Emits light from an arbitrarily shaped 2d polygon in 3d space. This is the most expensive light type, but produces very realistic area lighting. The polygon can have up to 64 points, but increases with cost as more points as added.

[paucom]

Suggested change

	| Point (sphere) | [Sphere Shape component](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\sphere-shape.md) |
	| Point (simple punctual) | - |
	| Spot (disk) | [Disk Shape component](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\disk-shape.md) |
	| Spot (simple punctual) | - |
	| Capsule | [Capsule Shape component](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\capsule-shape.md) |
	| Quad | [Quad Shape component](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\quad-shape.md) |
	| Polygon | [Polygon Prism Shape component](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\polygon-prism-shape.md) |
	| Point (sphere) | [Sphere Shape](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\sphere-shape.md) |
	| Point (simple punctual) | - |
	| Spot (disk) | [Disk Shape](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\disk-shape.md) |
	| Spot (simple punctual) | - |
	| Capsule | [Capsule Shape](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\capsule-shape.md) |
	| Quad | [Quad Shape](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\quad-shape.md) |
	| Polygon | [Polygon Prism Shape](\docs\user-guide\components\reference\shape\polygon-prism-shape.md) |

I recommend cutting "component" from the dependencies' link text in each row to minimize redundancy. If you think that it's important to keep "component," I recommend moving the word outside of the link text. (I see that the titles of the linked topics include "component," but I think that we should edit those titles to remove the redundant word "component" there, too.)

[chanmosq]

I've omitted the trailing "component" in each row. The pages in the component references have inconsistent styling: some have the trailing "component" in the page title, while others don't. However, we should opt to have "component" be in the title for better SEO (search engine optimization). The same styling follows for the Gem reference.

To summarize, page titles for the component and Gem reference should be:

• Component

linkTitle: Component Name
title: Component Name Component

• Gem

linkTitle: Gem Name
title: Gem Name Gem

I created a task for that here: #568

[paucom]

@chanmosq Thank you for pointing that out. I noticed that inconsistency and I agree with all of your points. I appreciate the correction for SEO considerations, as well as your creation of PR #568 for that cleanup effort.

[paucom]

Suggested change

	| **Shadowmap size** | Set the width and height of the shadowmap. A higher size leads to a more detailed shadow effect.| `256`, `512`, `1024`, `2048` | `256` |
	| **Shadowmap size** | Set the width and height of the shadowmap. A greater size results in a more detailed shadow effect. | `256`, `512`, `1024`, `2048` | `256` |

• Revised wording for accuracy, flow.
• Is "shadowmap" a widely understood term? If not, consider adding a definition here, as is done for "attenuation" earlier.

[chanmosq]

The shadowmap texture contains information about the light and objects in an area of the scene. It is used for Shadow Mapping, a technique that renders shadows in the scene.

I've added this brief explanation in the description.

[paucom]

In addition to my various line-level comments, be sure to replace the .jpg images with .png images, per our style guidance. ("Use the PNG format (.png) for all screenshots.")

[paucom]

Some small, non-blocking cleanup edits. Other than these suggested changes, I'm ready to approve.

[paucom]

@chanmosq Thank you for pointing that out. I noticed that inconsistency and I agree with all of your points. I appreciate the correction for SEO considerations, as well as your creation of PR #568 for that cleanup effort.