shadows?

# 1 20-09-2008 , 10:38 AM

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hey guys, i havent been here in probably a couple years now : / but i'd really like to get back into maya, ive got a rather simple question im sure. right now im working on making a 3D model of an apartment style condo and i would simply like to know how to make the walls cast shadows onto the floor and onto itself, the checkboxes for casts shadows and receives shadows are both checked so im not really sure what else to do

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# 2 20-09-2008 , 10:42 AM

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Wot light set up have you got?

Chris

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# 3 20-09-2008 , 11:36 AM

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i just played around a bit more and got some reflections going, but still no shadows.

to answer your question im just using a single ambient light source

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# 4 20-09-2008 , 11:38 AM

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have you enabled shadows in the light's options? Or if you've got raytraced shadows have you switched raytracing on in the render settings?

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 5 20-09-2008 , 11:53 AM

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bahahaha thanks, i just didnt enable shadows on the light source, thanks user added image

i'll keep you guys posted on how my little project is going

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# 6 20-09-2008 , 12:14 PM

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I remember when i was trying to get shadows in a scene, theres so many boxes you have to tick.....

https://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/as28g11/

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# 7 20-09-2008 , 12:22 PM

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thats the amazing part and the annoying bit about maya, its really powerful because it has so many options.. but managing them all.. ugh

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# 8 20-09-2008 , 01:26 PM

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ok, its looking pretty good, but i think i need to get the shadows to decay and fade out.. i saw an option for that somewhere but i forget where.. does anyone know how i can do this?

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# 9 20-09-2008 , 04:03 PM

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Under the raytrace section for the light, increase the light radius or since you're using a ambient light, i think its called the shadow radius. You will have to increase the shadow rays also to smooth out the grain. The shadows in this image seem to be all over the place, if you're going to have a single light source then why not a directional light?

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# 10 21-09-2008 , 06:14 AM

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awesome, that workd.. and i had been wondering about that graininess, all fixed : P though now im using about 5 different light sources, theres one over each table and a couple over in the kitchen, thats why the shadows are all over the place

though now i have appeared to have screwed something up in the render options, it doesnt seem to be apparent in the image i posted, but in the render window, all the straight lines appear to be broken

also, im trying to create a lamp shade for one of the light sources and i bumped up the incandesence to make it look like the light source its making it glow, but the other light sources in the room are making it cast some rather deep shadows on the wall, it doesnt seem quite right for a light to have such a deep shadow, does anyone know what i can do about this?

Last edited by Kalzenith; 21-09-2008 at 06:21 AM.

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# 11 21-09-2008 , 06:15 AM

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Last edited by Kalzenith; 21-09-2008 at 06:33 AM.

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# 12 21-09-2008 , 06:33 AM

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this is the image i forgot to attach

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# 13 21-09-2008 , 06:48 AM

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Are you using the maya software renderer? Personally I wouldn't bother using that for a lot of reasons. Anyways, you may want to look into light linking and light decay/fall off.

Originally posted by Kalzenith
though now i have appeared to have screwed something up in the render options, it doesnt seem to be apparent in the image i posted, but in the render window, all the straight lines appear to be broken

Originally Posted by

When you hit render, the image is scaled to fit the render view window and that is what makes it seem to have "broken lines". There is a 1:1 button there that shows the actual size.

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# 14 21-09-2008 , 07:02 AM

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hm, yeah thatd probably work, light linking is just something ive never done before.. i am using mental ray to render it btw

as for the brok line problem, the window is already set to a 1:1 ratio : /

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Last edited by Kalzenith; 21-09-2008 at 07:04 AM.

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# 15 21-09-2008 , 05:04 PM

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Originally posted by GecT
The shadows in this image seem to be all over the place, if you're going to have a single light source then why not a directional light?

Originally Posted by

i don't think i would use a directional light for this scene. directional lights make your shadows all angle in the same direction, like sunlight. as ths is a room, i'd use a spot for the main light source and then additional lights to simulate bounce and other light sources.

arran3D

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