Description

New poster to Reddit, so my post may be a little clumsy, format-wise.

I teach 3d visualization/animation and have worked as a forensic animator, vis fx and motion graphics director. I've also been involved in the UFO scene at some pretty intense levels. I'm a believer due to my experiences but always willing to give the debunkers their fare shake. There are a couple of posts about the 'building shadow theory' with the recent Shanghai Triangle, so I thought I'd set up a quick 3d simulation. Below is my process:

1. with no true measurements to go by, I built a triangular building approximating the proportions posted by others.
2. I created 3 spot lights, each at the base of the building, at the corners, pointing straight up. The light type/shadow method was what we call 'Area', which is the most physically accurate. Falloff was set to inverse square, also most accurate.
3. I added a 'cloud plane' (actually 2 - one above the other) and used alpha maps of cloud-like noise to simulate the varying levels of density and translucency of the cloud layers.

Here is what I found:

Below is the side view of the setup: the three lights you will see have overlap of their cones.

Side View (https://preview.redd.it/dx90hq5671771.png?width=2130&format=png&auto=…)

From the top this is more obvious. The squares are simply arbitrary symbols representing the lights and do not indicate the light source size (which is tiny)

Top View (https://preview.redd.it/w477mmue71771.png?width=2102&format=png&auto=…)

Below is a rendering from 'balcony level' upward at the cloud plane. In this shot the cloud plane is covered with a solid material, like a wall. This ensures a clear depiction of the shadow.

Perspective 1 (https://preview.redd.it/q5gr8jyx71771.png?width=1614&format=png&auto=…)

Below, the shadow was changed to 'soft', which though not as physically accurate, highlights the phenomenon.

Perspective 2 (https://preview.redd.it/udquqbsy91771.png?width=1878&format=png&auto=…)

Utilizing multiplayer sky, each with varying levels of translucency, we get to see overlapping layers of 'clouds' within the shadow.

Perspective 4 (https://preview.redd.it/2iwqfbm6a1771.png?width=2020&format=png&auto=…)

Additional notes:

1. Angling the lights toward the building (requiring the lights to be pulled further from the building - like searchlights) results in a confused set of 'shadows of walls"

Perspective 5 (https://preview.redd.it/whtl9pz4b1771.png?width=1968&format=png&auto=…)

2: Raising or lowering the lights had little effect: the shadow retained its consistency overall

Perspective 6 (https://preview.redd.it/li2140y2c1771.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=…)

So there you go - this is far from scientific, but it more of a 'proof of concept' of the theories mentioned by others.

EDIT: added animation -

Animation (https://reddit.com/link/o6fcfv/video/ag5kl76qs3771/player)

EDIT: Some have noted that the triangle has different proportions than the triangular building. This CAN be changed if the angle of the cloud layer is changed. However, that angle must be really extreme - implausibly extreme as depicted below:

Distorted shadow. (https://preview.redd.it/977nht69u3771.png?width=1562&format=png&auto=…)

Angle of sky planes to achieve such distortion. (https://preview.redd.it/lqvurx2du3771.png?width=1032&format=png&auto=…)