Keep a layer from casting shadows

[jamesmise]

So I have "painted" the proscenium around our stage with a renderworks texture that has "cast shadows" deselected. This makes it easier to light the set without a huge shadow.

I usually have a false portal that I would also like to keep from casting shadows. The current portal I'm working on is quite elaborate. It is a house exterior with siding, gutters, gabled windows, shingles etc.. The portal is on its own layer. It would be great if I could turn off shadows for the whole layer.

One option is to use textures for the portal that all have "cast shadows" deselected. This is a lot of textures, including many objects that don't really need textures because they aren't seen in the rendering but are needed for construction drawings. (Like the framing underneath the siding)

Another option is to spend a lot of time carefully placing lights to avoid hitting the portal.

It would be simpler if I could keep the whole layer from casting shadows.

Any help is appreciated.

[Monadnoc]

Just a thought, but if you did a background render with the portal layer turned off and a foreground render with only the portal layer turned on, and copied the light and pasted in place into the portal layer then turned off cast shadows for that light you might get what you're after. Never tried it so don't know for sure. You might have to tweak light intensities on both lights so it's not twice as bright. Then again, maybe not.

Like I said, just a thought ...

Edited October 10, 2013 by Monadnoc