Need Help with Shader Mixer for Soft Shadows
Need Help with Shader Mixer for Soft Shadows
Hello!
I haven't used DAZ Studio in a long time and now need to re-render a model. My old version of DAZ wouldn't work with Monterey so I downloaded DAZ Studio 4.21 and quickly realized that a LOT has changed. After a few days of pouring through countless tutorials and guides as well as scouring the internet and forums for answers, I'm still unable to achieve a render that looks like what my old DAZ could render. I'd appreciate ANY help y'all could provide!
In my old DAZ, things were simple! I had a plane with a shadow catcher applied, 3 distant lights (1 pointing straight down to create a shadow, 2 at 45 degree angles to brighten the model but won't cast shadows) and a model. I'd render the scene and the result would be a well-lit model with one soft shadow directly underneath the model. By playing with the opacity of the plane, I could lighten the shadow. Here's an example of some old renders with plaid background to show shadow softness and opacity.
So I replicated the exact same setup in the newer DAZ, but can't seem to get the shadows to soften or have opacity. I read through numerous tutorials and forum threads on how to create a shadow catcher in Shader Mixer but I don't really know what I'm doing, so I'd appreciate any tips! Here's my scene:
My first attempt at a Shader Mixer to create a soft, transparent shadow was semi-successful. As you can see, the model is well-lit (good), the color of the plane creates a shadow of that color (good), the plane itself is not rendered - just the shadow (good), however the shadow is too dark and has no opacity (bad).
My second attempt at a Shader Mixer was also semi-successful. As you can see, the model is well-lit (good), the color of the plane creates a shadow of that color (good), the plane itself IS rendered (bad), but the shadow is rendered with opacity (good).
Can anyone advise me on how to get the result of a rendered model with shadow that has soft edges and an opacity but no plane rendered?
Thanks!
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Comments
This is a question about 3Delight renderer? It wasnt specified in the post.
Guess it might pay to google around the topic of 3Delight "shadow intensity" "shadow catcher"
Presumably shadow intensity would be under the parameters for the light.
Since you're using the latest DS version, I presume you maybe wanna take a look at a rendering with Nvidia Iray Engine (PBR) and MDL Shader, good and simple.
But if you still wanna use 3Delight and play Shader Mixer, I believe other guys may help with it.
I made this tutorial years ago, probably in DS4.9, but it should still work. Basically you need to connect the shadowcatcher brick to the root input of the surface, as showed here. Hope that helps.
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Sorry, yes. I forgot to mention that I was using 3Delight as the render engine. Originally, I started out with Iray, but the environment light source was casting a shadow at the wrong angle and my model wasn't well-lit. After trying all sorts of Environment settings, I read that 3Delight only uses the light sources that are added to the scene, so it seemed the way to go. As it turns out, I just needed to set the SS Sun Node to my top-down light.
Per crosswind's suggestion, I re-rendered my scene (plane hidden) with Iray and the shadow has the perfect transparency, but needs just a touch more softness around the edges. These are my settings:
Playing with the light's intensity doesn't seem to make the shadows softer. Any tips?
Sven, I followed your tutoral and created a new Shader Mixer as you described. In the Surface brick, I see that the color sets the color of the shadow and in the Mix brick, the Layer value sets the opacity of the shadow. What does the Mix brick's Base value control?
Using the 3Delight render engine and your Shader Mixer, I am now able to render models with complete control over model lighting (my 3 Distant lights), shadow opacity and shadow color. Love it! Not to mention, it renders lightning fast. Also just discovered that I can adjust the Parameters of my top-down Distant Light to set the Shadow Softness at 50% which created the perfect soft shadow. Thank you!!
The base layer would control the visibility of the shadowcatcher plane, if you for some reason would like to make it visible. (From memory, didn't test)
Glad it's working out for you:)
In iray, the default 'Ground' shadow catcher can only make shadows from the Environment dome (e.g., HDRI or Sun-Sky) I believe. Someone correct me if wrong. So you have 4 lights in your scene. 3 x parametric spotlights and Sun-Sky, but only sun sky will contribute to the shadow on the environment 'Ground'.
You probably have to use another method for iray shadow catcher, or use another HDRI/Sun-Sky settings.
If you put a plane primitive on the ground instead of using the environment 'Ground', you will see your spotlights have an effect on the lighting and shadow intensity. Usually making a bigger distant light will give a softer shadow.
To make iray shadow catcher, there are a bunch of different threads (and link) and also products on the store for that.