Shadow maps & Image Props

[Keith Hadland]

I've noticed that when rendering a scene containing image props (xfrog trees) using custom renderworks with shadow mapping enabled, the shadows are generated from the crossed planes of the prop rather than acknowledging the transparent colour mask that's applied to it. Is there a workaround to this or are we stuck with using the sharper shadows?

TIA

Keith

[Dave Donley]

Hello Keith:

Transparent shadows are only available with raytraced shadows, they aren't available with mapped shadows.

[Keith Hadland]

Thanks Dave

Any chance of that changing in a future release - the photorealistic Xfrog models are useful to add realism but the harsh shadows then let the rendering down.

Cheers

Keith

[propstuff]

Have you tried lighting with an HDRI?

It will slow things down a bit, but make for much nicer lighting and shadows.

N.

Edited June 1, 2007 by propstuff

[Keith Hadland]

Yep, had a look at some HDRI's - as you say the rendering speed is way slower though and I haven't yet found one that gives the sort of scene I'm looking for, probably need to do a bit more investigation but for now that'll have to be on the back burner. Any pointers for good HDRI sources that might be worth a look?

Cheers

Keith

[Dave Donley]

Hello Keith:

Soft raytraced shadows are a continuing wish for LightWorks. They would have to rewrite their raytraced shadows to do it.

Check this thread for info on where to get some HDRIs off the web:

http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=10&Number=67611&Searchpage=3&Main=15437&Words=HDRI&topic=0&Search=true#Post67611

These are nice:

http://www.hdrmill.com/Freebies.htm

Edited June 1, 2007 by Dave Donley

[Keith Hadland]

Thanks Dave - some lovely skies in there!