Anim8or Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Ian Ross has just released a book on Anim8or. It's perect for a beginner and a good reference for experienced users. It contains detailed chapters on every aspect, with many examples. Get your own copy here: "Anim8or Tutorial Book"

Author Topic: Shadows Problem  (Read 7504 times)

Darkjesture

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 44
    • View Profile
Shadows Problem
« on: September 20, 2008, 06:44:34 pm »

Hello,
Im not new to modeling in Anim8or but im new to rendering am wondering if their is some information on getting shadows to project onto another model, itself? For some reason when i set up to render (gl instead of scanline) and i turn on a spotlight and then set the object to project and to recieve a shadow i dont see the shadow even with the render. Can anybody help me?
Logged

thecolclough

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 890
  • 3D Ignoramus 1988-2002, Anim8or User 2002-present.
    • View Profile
    • www.mattghc.com
Re: Shadows Problem
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2008, 07:08:10 pm »

you have to open the light's properties editor, and hit the 'advanced' button towards the bottom.  that'll bring up some of the more complex options, including light influence areas, and the one you're looking for, shadow settings.  in anim8or, all lights have shadows disabled by default, you have to go into the advanced properties editor and enable shadows for those lights which you want to cast shadows from.

be warned: volume shadows are notoriously buggy.  if your scene's not too complex, then you might get away with using them, but if your scene is too complex then horrible things will happen in your render.  i've found they tend to mess up especially when there are multiple lights in the scene.  if you choose the 'raytraced' option, then you're guaranteed that the render won't go wrong, but it'll take much longer than the volume shadows do.

if it still doesn't work after you've set up advanced options for the light, and ensured that the Cast/Receive settings are correct for all objects in the scene, then go View > Preferences, and make sure the 'Shadows' box is checked in the 'File Output' section.

hope that helps ;)
Logged

Darkjesture

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 44
    • View Profile
Re: Shadows Problem
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2008, 07:10:35 pm »

Thank you Will do! :)
Logged

Darkjesture

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 44
    • View Profile
Re: Shadows Problem
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2008, 07:33:06 pm »

I got the object to shadow now i just need to have an object self shadow is that posible?
Logged

thecolclough

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 890
  • 3D Ignoramus 1988-2002, Anim8or User 2002-present.
    • View Profile
    • www.mattghc.com
Re: Shadows Problem
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2008, 08:03:29 pm »

in theory, yes it is.  if you enable both Cast and Receive on the same object, and it has multiple parts, one of which is positioned to cast a shadow on the other, then... it should work just the same as if the parts were separate objects.  however, it has been known for this to cause problems under some circumstances (i think), and if it does, then you might have to split your object in two, and import both halves into scene mode and set shadows on both of them.
Logged

Darkjesture

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 44
    • View Profile
Re: Shadows Problem
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2008, 08:16:35 pm »

Ok thnx sounds workable. :)
Logged