Infinite Background

[Robbie McC]

Is there a way to create an infinite background? I am modelling product displays and would like to be able to place them on an infinite backdrop so that I can have reflections and shadow on the floor and a clean background.

 

Cheers!

[Kevin Allen]

When I want this effect, I create a large cyc (or cyclorama) for the background, generally black or white with a certain amount fo gloss. Not rue black or white, but a light or very dark gray.

 

Cyc is generally and entertainment specific term, but I have a solid that consists of two walls and a floor. The corner (between the walls and between the walls and floor) are 'coves' like a cove moulding, just a sweep.

[Robbie McC]

Thanks Kevin.

 

Do you add the solids or do you keep them as single objects. I have tried something similar - as one solid -  but can never get a true seamless look. (This may due to bad lighting though. Secondly approx what kind of radius do you have for the cove?

[Andy Broomell]

Here's one approach, though I'm not 100% sure what you're going for:

 

-Model your object.

-Don't model any geometry for the infinite background.

-Render in a sheet layer viewport.

-Set RW background to None (if you want transparency upon export), or HDRI white would work too if you don't need transparency.

-Where you want shadows/reflection, extrude a circle or rectangle to 0", and make/apply a shadow catcher material. This will give you the shadows and reflections, but no rendered geometry. (One drawback is that shadow catcher reflections apparently don't have a blurriness parameter).

-Use File<Export<Export Image file if you want to be able to export a PNG with transparency.

 

Example:

 

 

 

[Kevin McAllister]

I'd love an infinite floor object, especially if it was made to work with the horizon of a Renderworks background....

 

Kevin

[Robbie McC]

Thanks a lot for your help guys. I'll experiment with both and let you know how I get on!

[DaveBB]

Andy. Missing a step here. How do you apply a 'shadow catcher' object. I went through the link you included and the video link from that help page. They all describe the shadow catcher quite well, but never mention specifically how to create it.

[Andy Broomell]

Shadow Catcher refers to a type of texture; it can be applied to any object. In my example above, I drew a large circle and extruded it to a height of 0", then applied the texture in the Render tab of the Object Info Palette.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Andy Broomell