Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
check box under the Raytracing Quality heading in the Render Settings window. Choose
Window
➔
Rendering Editors
➔
Render Settings, or click the Render Settings icon (
Figure 10.30
The Spot light shown
in Figure 10.29,
now has raytraced
shadows.
) in
the Status line.
Figure 10.30 shows the Spot light from Figure 10.29, this time rendered with a ray-
traced shadow. Notice that there isn't much difference
in the renders at this point with simple shadows like
these. However, as you'll see with soft shadows later in
this chapter, raytracing shadows can make a big differ-
ence in the look of your renders.
For an object that has a transparency map applied
to its shader, however, only raytraced shadows can cast
proper shadows. On the left in Figure 10.31 is a plane
with a mapped checkerboard transparency casting a
raytraced shadow over the still life. On the right is the
same light using shadow maps instead of raytraced
shadows.
Figure 10.31
Only raytraced
shadows work with
transparencies.
Raytraced Shadow
Shadow Map Shadow
Controlling Shadows per Object
To better control your lighting, you can specify whether an object can cast and receive
shadows in Maya. For example, if you have geometry casting light in front of a shadow,
but you don't want it to cast a shadow, you can manually turn off that feature for that
object only.
To turn off shadow casting for an object, select the object and open its Attribute Editor.
In the Render Stats section is a group of check boxes that control the render properties
of the object, as shown in Figure 10.32. Clear the Casts Shadows check box. If you don't
want the object to receive shadows, clear the Receive Shadows check box.
