Shadows not rendering rounded

[VaguePenguin]

GPU, drivers, and screen setup

"glxinfo -B" output:

name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
    Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
    Device: Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) (0x5917)
    Version: 21.1.5
    Accelerated: yes
    Video memory: 3072MB
    Unified memory: yes
    Preferred profile: core (0x1)
    Max core profile version: 4.6
    Max compat profile version: 4.6
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.2
OpenGL vendor string: Intel
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6 (Core Profile) Mesa 21.1.5
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 21.1.5
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: compatibility profile

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 Mesa 21.1.5
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

Environment

I'm running i3-gaps on Arch

picom version

vgit-a9977

Configuration:

corner-radius: 20;

backend = "glx";

glx-no-stencil = true;

glx-copy-from-front = false;

shadow = true;
shadow-radius = 5;
shadow-offset-x = 1;
shadow-offset-y = 1;
shadow-opacity = 0.3;

shadow-exclude = [
    "! name~=''",
    "name = 'Notification'",
    "name = 'Plank'",
    "name = 'Docky'",
    "name = 'Kupfer'",
    "name = 'xfce4-notifyd'",
    "name *= 'VLC'",
    "name *= 'compton'",
    "name *= 'picom'",
    "name *= 'Chromium'",
    "name *= 'Chrome'",
    "class_g = 'Firefox' && argb",
    "class_g = 'Conky'",
    "class_g = 'Kupfer'",
    "class_g = 'Synapse'",
    "class_g ?= 'Notify-osd'",
    "class_g ?= 'Cairo-dock'",
    "class_g ?= 'Xfce4-notifyd'",
    "class_g ?= 'Xfce4-power-manager'",
    "class_g ?= 'Dmenu'",
    "class_g ?= 'i3-frame'",
    "_GTK_FRAME_EXTENTS@:c",
    "_NET_WM_STATE@:32a *= '_NET_WM_STATE_HIDDEN'"
];
shadow-ignore-shaped = false;

inactive-opacity = .3;
active-opacity = 1;
frame-opacity = 1;
inactive-opacity-override = false;

blur-background-fixed = false;
blur-background-exclude = [
    "window_type = 'dock'",
    "window_type = 'desktop'"
];

fading = false;
fade-delta = 1;
fade-in-step = 0.03;
fade-out-step = 0.03;
fade-exclude = [ ];

mark-wmwin-focused = true;
mark-ovredir-focused = true;
use-ewmh-active-win = true;

detect-rounded-corners = true;

detect-client-opacity = true;

refresh-rate = 0;
vsync = false;

dbe = false;

unredir-if-possible = true;

focus-exclude = [ "class_g = 'Cairo-clock'" ];

detect-transient = true;
detect-client-leader = true;

wintypes :
{
  tooltip :
  {
    fade = true;
    shadow = false;
    opacity = 0.85;
    focus = true;
  };
  fullscreen :
  {
    fade = true;
    shadow = false;
    opacity = 1;
    focus = true;
  };
};

xrender-sync-fence = true;

Steps of reproduction

1. Run any program in i3-gaps with rounding and shadows on in picom

Expected behavior

I would expect or like for the drop-shadows for the applications to share the rounded corners of the applications themselves.

Current Behavior

Picom seems to detect the application itself as not being rounded (since picom is rounding it instead of the application itself being round), and creates a non-rounded shadow

Other details

Screenshot of polybar

I can make this significantly better by upping the blur-radius, but that option isn't really intended to shape the shadow, I'd love for the shadow to be the exact shape of the application it's shadowing even with no blur.

Options I tried that seemed not to fix it

I tried changing the shadow-ignore-shaped and the detect-rounded-corners in every combination, to no effect.

It's possible that there is a configuration option I'm missing, so I'd love to know if that's the case. If not I'd be willing to try and help fix this if someone could point me in the right direction.

Thanks

[AlphaTechnolog]

How do you are executing picom?

Lke this?:

picom -b

Or you have another flags?

[AlphaTechnolog]

It works in my system, I test it in Arch Linux for these window managers:

• Qtile
• I3-gaps
• Spectrwm
• Bspwm
• Openbox
• Dwm

And all works perfectly:

Complete screenshot

It's bspwm

My picom.conf are:

#################################
#             Shadows           #
#################################


# Enabled client-side shadows on windows. Note desktop windows 
# (windows with '_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DESKTOP') never get shadow, 
# unless explicitly requested using the wintypes option.
#
# shadow = false;
shadow = true;

# The blur radius for shadows, in pixels. (defaults to 12)
# shadow-radius = 12
shadow-radius = 25;

# The opacity of shadows. (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0.75)
# shadow-opacity = .75

# The left offset for shadows, in pixels. (defaults to -15)
# shadow-offset-x = -15
shadow-offset-x = -25;

# The top offset for shadows, in pixels. (defaults to -15)
# shadow-offset-y = -15
shadow-offset-y = -25;

# Avoid drawing shadows on dock/panel windows. This option is deprecated,
# you should use the *wintypes* option in your config file instead.
#
dock-shadow = true;

# Don't draw shadows on drag-and-drop windows. This option is deprecated, 
# you should use the *wintypes* option in your config file instead.
#
# no-dnd-shadow = false

# Red color value of shadow (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0).
# shadow-red = 0

# Green color value of shadow (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0).
# shadow-green = 0

# Blue color value of shadow (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0).
# shadow-blue = 0

# Do not paint shadows on shaped windows. Note shaped windows 
# here means windows setting its shape through X Shape extension. 
# Those using ARGB background is beyond our control. 
# Deprecated, use 
#   shadow-exclude = 'bounding_shaped'
# or 
#   shadow-exclude = 'bounding_shaped && !rounded_corners'
# instead.
#
# shadow-ignore-shaped = ''

# Add this one too for ...
    # "_NET_WM_STATE@:32a *= '_NET_WM_STATE_HIDDEN'"
# Add this one above to the list to have no shadow in Openbox menu
	# "! name~=''",

# Specify a X geometry that describes the region in which shadow should not
# be painted in, such as a dock window region. Use 
#    shadow-exclude-reg = "x10+0+0"
# for example, if the 10 pixels on the bottom of the screen should not have shadows painted on.
#
# shadow-exclude-reg = "" 

# Crop shadow of a window fully on a particular Xinerama screen to the screen.
# xinerama-shadow-crop = false


#################################
#           Fading              #
#################################


# Fade windows in/out when opening/closing and when opacity changes,
#  unless no-fading-openclose is used.
# fading = false
fading = true

# Opacity change between steps while fading in. (0.01 - 1.0, defaults to 0.028)
# fade-in-step = 0.028
fade-in-step = 0.075;

# Opacity change between steps while fading out. (0.01 - 1.0, defaults to 0.03)
# fade-out-step = 0.03
fade-out-step = 0.075;

# The time between steps in fade step, in milliseconds. (> 0, defaults to 10)
# fade-delta = 10

# Specify a list of conditions of windows that should not be faded.
# fade-exclude = []

# Do not fade on window open/close.
# no-fading-openclose = false

# Do not fade destroyed ARGB windows with WM frame. Workaround of bugs in Openbox, Fluxbox, etc.
# no-fading-destroyed-argb = false


#################################
#   Transparency / Opacity      #
#################################


# Opacity of inactive windows. (0.1 - 1.0, defaults to 1.0)
inactive-opacity = 0.93
# inactive-opacity = 0.90;

# Opacity of window titlebars and borders. (0.1 - 1.0, disabled by default)
# frame-opacity = 1.0
frame-opacity = 1;

# Default opacity for dropdown menus and popup menus. (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 1.0)
# menu-opacity = 1.0

# Let inactive opacity set by -i override the '_NET_WM_OPACITY' values of windows.
inactive-opacity-override = true
# inactive-opacity-override = false;

# Default opacity for active windows. (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 1.0)
active-opacity = 1.0

# Dim inactive windows. (0.0 - 1.0, defaults to 0.0)
# inactive-dim = 0.0

# Specify a list of conditions of windows that should always be considered focused.
# focus-exclude = []
focus-exclude = [ "class_g = 'Cairo-clock'", "class_g = 'dwm'" ];

# Use fixed inactive dim value, instead of adjusting according to window opacity.
# inactive-dim-fixed = 1.0

# Specify a list of opacity rules, in the format `PERCENT:PATTERN`, 
# like `50:name *= "Firefox"`. picom-trans is recommended over this. 
# Note we don't make any guarantee about possible conflicts with other 
# programs that set '_NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY' on frame or client windows.
# example:
#    opacity-rule = [ "80:class_g = 'URxvt'" ];
#
# opacity-rule = [ "80:class_g = 'Alacritty'" ]


#################################
#     Background-Blurring       #
#################################


# Parameters for background blurring, see the *BLUR* section for more information.
# blur-method = 
# blur-size = 12
#
# blur-deviation = false

# Blur background of semi-transparent / ARGB windows. 
# Bad in performance, with driver-dependent behavior. 
# The name of the switch may change without prior notifications.
#
# blur-background = false

# Blur background of windows when the window frame is not opaque. 
# Implies:
#    blur-background 
# Bad in performance, with driver-dependent behavior. The name may change.
#
# blur-background-frame = false


# Use fixed blur strength rather than adjusting according to window opacity.
# blur-background-fixed = false


# Specify the blur convolution kernel, with the following format:
# example:
#   blur-kern = "5,5,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1";
#
# blur-kern = ''
# blur-kern = "3x3box";


# Exclude conditions for background blur.
# blur-background-exclude = []
# blur-background-exclude = [
#   "window_type = 'dock'",
#   "window_type = 'desktop'",
#   "_GTK_FRAME_EXTENTS@:c"
# ];

#################################
#       General Settings        #
#################################

# Daemonize process. Fork to background after initialization. Causes issues with certain (badly-written) drivers.
# daemon = false

# Specify the backend to use: `xrender`, `glx`, or `xr_glx_hybrid`.
# `xrender` is the default one.
#
# backend = "glx"
# backend = "xr_glx_hybrid"
backend = "glx";

# Enable/disable VSync.
# vsync = true

# Enable remote control via D-Bus. See the *D-BUS API* section below for more details.
dbus = false

# Try to detect WM windows (a non-override-redirect window with no 
# child that has 'WM_STATE') and mark them as active.
#
mark-wmwin-focused = false
# mark-wmwin-focused = true;

# Mark override-redirect windows that doesn't have a child window with 'WM_STATE' focused.
mark-ovredir-focused = false
# mark-ovredir-focused = true;

# Try to detect windows with rounded corners and don't consider them 
# shaped windows. The accuracy is not very high, unfortunately.
#
detect-rounded-corners = false
# detect-rounded-corners = true;

# Detect '_NET_WM_OPACITY' on client windows, useful for window managers
# not passing '_NET_WM_OPACITY' of client windows to frame windows.
#
# detect-client-opacity = false
detect-client-opacity = true;

# Specify refresh rate of the screen. If not specified or 0, picom will 
# try detecting this with X RandR extension.
#
# refresh-rate = 60
refresh-rate = 0

# Limit picom to repaint at most once every 1 / 'refresh_rate' second to 
# boost performance. This should not be used with 
#   vsync drm/opengl/opengl-oml
# as they essentially does sw-opti's job already, 
# unless you wish to specify a lower refresh rate than the actual value.
#
# sw-opti = 

# Use EWMH '_NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW' to determine currently focused window, 
# rather than listening to 'FocusIn'/'FocusOut' event. Might have more accuracy, 
# provided that the WM supports it.
#
# use-ewmh-active-win = true

# Unredirect all windows if a full-screen opaque window is detected, 
# to maximize performance for full-screen windows. Known to cause flickering 
# when redirecting/unredirecting windows.
#
# unredir-if-possible = false

# Delay before unredirecting the window, in milliseconds. Defaults to 0.
# unredir-if-possible-delay = 0

# Conditions of windows that shouldn't be considered full-screen for unredirecting screen.
# unredir-if-possible-exclude = []

# Use 'WM_TRANSIENT_FOR' to group windows, and consider windows 
# in the same group focused at the same time.
#
# detect-transient = false
detect-transient = true

# Use 'WM_CLIENT_LEADER' to group windows, and consider windows in the same 
# group focused at the same time. 'WM_TRANSIENT_FOR' has higher priority if 
# detect-transient is enabled, too.
#
# detect-client-leader = false
detect-client-leader = true

# Resize damaged region by a specific number of pixels. 
# A positive value enlarges it while a negative one shrinks it. 
# If the value is positive, those additional pixels will not be actually painted 
# to screen, only used in blur calculation, and such. (Due to technical limitations, 
# with use-damage, those pixels will still be incorrectly painted to screen.) 
# Primarily used to fix the line corruption issues of blur, 
# in which case you should use the blur radius value here 
# (e.g. with a 3x3 kernel, you should use `--resize-damage 1`, 
# with a 5x5 one you use `--resize-damage 2`, and so on). 
# May or may not work with *--glx-no-stencil*. Shrinking doesn't function correctly.
#
# resize-damage = 1

# Specify a list of conditions of windows that should be painted with inverted color. 
# Resource-hogging, and is not well tested.
#
# invert-color-include = []

# GLX backend: Avoid using stencil buffer, useful if you don't have a stencil buffer. 
# Might cause incorrect opacity when rendering transparent content (but never 
# practically happened) and may not work with blur-background. 
# My tests show a 15% performance boost. Recommended.
#
# glx-no-stencil = false

# GLX backend: Avoid rebinding pixmap on window damage. 
# Probably could improve performance on rapid window content changes, 
# but is known to break things on some drivers (LLVMpipe, xf86-video-intel, etc.).
# Recommended if it works.
#
# glx-no-rebind-pixmap = false

# Disable the use of damage information. 
# This cause the whole screen to be redrawn everytime, instead of the part of the screen
# has actually changed. Potentially degrades the performance, but might fix some artifacts.
# The opposing option is use-damage
#
# no-use-damage = false
use-damage = true

# Use X Sync fence to sync clients' draw calls, to make sure all draw 
# calls are finished before picom starts drawing. Needed on nvidia-drivers 
# with GLX backend for some users.
#
# xrender-sync-fence = false

# GLX backend: Use specified GLSL fragment shader for rendering window contents. 
# See `compton-default-fshader-win.glsl` and `compton-fake-transparency-fshader-win.glsl` 
# in the source tree for examples.
#
# glx-fshader-win = ''

# Force all windows to be painted with blending. Useful if you 
# have a glx-fshader-win that could turn opaque pixels transparent.
#
# force-win-blend = false

# Do not use EWMH to detect fullscreen windows. 
# Reverts to checking if a window is fullscreen based only on its size and coordinates.
#
# no-ewmh-fullscreen = false

# Dimming bright windows so their brightness doesn't exceed this set value. 
# Brightness of a window is estimated by averaging all pixels in the window, 
# so this could comes with a performance hit. 
# Setting this to 1.0 disables this behaviour. Requires --use-damage to be disabled. (default: 1.0)
#
# max-brightness = 1.0

# Make transparent windows clip other windows like non-transparent windows do,
# instead of blending on top of them.
#
# transparent-clipping = false

# Set the log level. Possible values are:
#  "trace", "debug", "info", "warn", "error"
# in increasing level of importance. Case doesn't matter. 
# If using the "TRACE" log level, it's better to log into a file 
# using *--log-file*, since it can generate a huge stream of logs.
#
# log-level = "debug"
log-level = "warn";

# Set the log file.
# If *--log-file* is never specified, logs will be written to stderr. 
# Otherwise, logs will to written to the given file, though some of the early 
# logs might still be written to the stderr. 
# When setting this option from the config file, it is recommended to use an absolute path.
#
# log-file = '~/.config/compton.log'

# Show all X errors (for debugging)
# show-all-xerrors = false

# Write process ID to a file.
# write-pid-path = '/path/to/your/log/file'

# Window type settings
# 
# 'WINDOW_TYPE' is one of the 15 window types defined in EWMH standard: 
#     "unknown", "desktop", "dock", "toolbar", "menu", "utility", 
#     "splash", "dialog", "normal", "dropdown_menu", "popup_menu", 
#     "tooltip", "notification", "combo", and "dnd".
# 
# Following per window-type options are available: ::
# 
#   fade, shadow:::
#     Controls window-type-specific shadow and fade settings.
# 
#   opacity:::
#     Controls default opacity of the window type.
# 
#   focus:::
#     Controls whether the window of this type is to be always considered focused. 
#     (By default, all window types except "normal" and "dialog" has this on.)
# 
#   full-shadow:::
#     Controls whether shadow is drawn under the parts of the window that you 
#     normally won't be able to see. Useful when the window has parts of it 
#     transparent, and you want shadows in those areas.
# 
#   redir-ignore:::
#     Controls whether this type of windows should cause screen to become 
#     redirected again after been unredirected. If you have unredir-if-possible
#     set, and doesn't want certain window to cause unnecessary screen redirection, 
#     you can set this to `true`.
#
wintypes:
{
  tooltip = { fade = true; shadow = true; opacity = 0.9; focus = true; full-shadow = false; };
  dock = { shadow = false; }
  dnd = { shadow = false; }
  popup_menu = { opacity = 0.9; }
  dropdown_menu = { opacity = 0.9; }
};

corner-radius = 12
rounded-corners-exclude = [
  "class_g = 'Polybar'",
  "class_g = 'dwm'",
  "class_g = 'nm-applet'",
  "class_g = 'udiskie'",
  "class_g = 'volumeicon'",
  "class_g = 'Tint2'",
  "! name~=''"
];

[VaguePenguin]

So, first of all: Awesome desktop. Your setup looks really good.

Second: I have been running picom with no flags, I just used the '-b' flag and nothing changed.

Third, I don't think your system is "working perfectly" according to what I'd like to see happen. From what I can tell, on both your system and what I ended up doing on my own system, picom isn't actually curving the shadow, but rather you are cranking the blur radius to achieve an effect that is too close to tell the difference. You can see this clearly if you start with you 'shadow-radius' at something like 5 (which will be a clear rectangle), and then step your way up by 5. You will see that it's a rectangular shadow the entire time, but it just gets blurrier.

According to the sample.conf file for picom, the 'shadow-radius' property is not the radius of the corner of the shadow, but rather the radius of the blur. So, my issue is that I want a clear an distinct shadow, with a defined curve, but my only option is a rectangular shadow with blur so high that it looks round.

What you've done by raising the shadow-radius and the shadow-offsets to high numbers is what I would consider a work-around. It is the work around I am currently using, but I'd like to see an improvement where I can have a crisp round shadow.

[AlphaTechnolog]

So, first of all: Awesome desktop. Your setup looks really good.

Thank you very much! :)

Second: I have been running picom with no flags, I just used the '-b' flag and nothing changed.

Third, I don't think your system is "working perfectly" according to what I'd like to see happen. From what I can tell, on both your system and what I ended up doing on my own system, picom isn't actually curving the shadow, but rather you are cranking the blur radius to achieve an effect that is too close to tell the difference. You can see this clearly if you start with you 'shadow-radius' at something like 5 (which will be a clear rectangle), and then step your way up by 5. You will see that it's a rectangular shadow the entire time, but it just gets blurrier.

According to the sample.conf file for picom, the 'shadow-radius' property is not the radius of the corner of the shadow, but rather the radius of the blur. So, my issue is that I want a clear an distinct shadow, with a defined curve, but my only option is a rectangular shadow with blur so high that it looks round.

What you've done by raising the shadow-radius and the shadow-offsets to high numbers is what I would consider a work-around. It is the work around I am currently using, but I'd like to see an improvement where I can have a crisp round shadow.

You are absolutely right, I had not noticed, certainly there is a problem with this, however, this is much better than how the original picom handles it, the original picom does not curve the shadow, as far as I could test, the original picom places the edges rounded but with a square shadow (assuming the window edge is square), which I personally would prefer and can live using picom the way I set it up ... certainly this is a big problem with picom :v

[AlphaTechnolog]

Sorry for my english :( there may be some inconsistencies in some words ...