Shadow¶

Purpose¶

Owns shadow-related editor workflows, shadow capture request models, shadow material handling, and shadow catcher helper systems for Snap Studio Pro.

This territory coordinates shadow-specific feature behaviour without owning preview scene lifecycle, rendering pipeline implementation, or export orchestration.

Owns¶

• Shadow feature workflows
• Shadow capture request models
• Shadow catcher material helpers
• Ground/background material handling
• Shadow-specific utility logic
• Shadow catcher setup helpers
• Shadow debug shader selection

Does NOT Own¶

• Preview scene lifecycle ownership
• Rendering pipeline implementation
• Export orchestration
• Capture execution internals
• Panel UI layout ownership
• General lighting workflows

Allowed Dependencies¶

Shadow may depend on:

• Capture request models
• Rendering/pipeline-safe shader helpers
• Unity rendering/material APIs
• Preview-facing scene objects where required

Shadow should avoid depending on:

• panel orchestration systems
• export workflow systems
• rendering implementation ownership
• window lifecycle systems

Notes¶

Shadow is a feature-domain territory.

It owns shadow-specific behaviour and helper systems, but should not become the owner of preview scene lifecycle or rendering pipeline behaviour.

Preview owns: - preview scene objects - preview lifecycle - shadow catcher placement inside the preview scene

Capture/Export own: - when shadow captures are requested - how shadow outputs participate in export workflows

Shadow owns: - shadow-specific request data - material instance safety - shadow helper behaviour

This separation keeps shadow support feature-focused and prevents it from becoming a hidden rendering manager.

Future Candidates¶

• Continue isolating shadow-specific behaviour from preview scene lifecycle.
• Keep material instance ownership explicit and safe.
• Avoid pushing export orchestration into Shadow.
• Maintain pipeline-safe shader helper boundaries.