Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
8. Save the file as
start_11.blend
. Look at the crisper shadow in the Rendered
preview, as shown in this screenshot:
Scaling the mesh-light smaller and increasing the emission strength to have crisper shadows
How it works...
From steps 5 to 7, we saw how a mesh-light can be scaled bigger or smaller to obtain a
softer (in the first case) or a sharper (in the second case) shadow, respectively. The Strength
value must be adjusted for the light intensity to remain consistent, or the mesh-light must be
moved closer or more distant from the scene.
Scaling the mesh-light is basically the same as setting the size value for a Lamp. For Lamps,
the softness of shadows can be set by the Size value to the left of the Cast Shadow option in
the Lamp window, under the Properties panel (by default, the Size value is set to
1.000
). At
a value of
0.000
, the shadow is at its maximum crispness, or sharpness. If the Size value is
increased, the softness of the shadow increases too.
Unlike the mesh-light, varying the Size value of a Lamp doesn't require us to adjust the
Strength value to keep the same light intensity.
There's more...
In several cases, you might not want the emitters to appear in your rendering. There are node
arrangements to accomplish this (such as using the Light Path node in a way quite similar to
the
Setting the World material
recipe we have seen before), but the easiest way to do this is
as follows:
