How can I create a shadow catcher

sinfany

I'd like to use an image of a country path with my characters walking on it.

How can I cast shadows using a primitive plane? I've been experimenting but so far no success. Either I have a white plane and no shadows or nothing at all. Does anyone know the settings?

Thanks!

Miss B

I've done it a few times following a tutorial on the old forum, but unfortunately the old forum archive is not available, and I'm not sure when it will be available again.

Possibly someone else will know the actual steps and can help you.

AJ2112

Check this out, In scene tab, select the plane > paremters > cast shadows on. Same with character. Hope this is what your asking.

sinfany

Yes, that worked - thanks!

But - is there a way to make the plane disappear while still maintaining the shadows? I switched the "make invisible in render" but the shadows are gone too.

SickleYield

sinfany said:

Yes, that worked - thanks!

But - is there a way to make the plane disappear while still maintaining the shadows? I switched the "make invisible in render" but the shadows are gone too.

Isn't this what Fantom does in the UberSurface shader? Makes things render invisible while catching/casting shadows?

Herald of Fire

SickleYield said:

sinfany said:

Yes, that worked - thanks!

But - is there a way to make the plane disappear while still maintaining the shadows? I switched the "make invisible in render" but the shadows are gone too.

Isn't this what Fantom does in the UberSurface shader? Makes things render invisible while catching/casting shadows?It sure does... set that property and watch the figure vanish instantly while leaving their shadow behind.

sinfany

I found the UberSurface shader but no Fantom...

sinfany

Thanks for your suggestions - I think I wasn't clear enough earlier - what I'm after is to make the Plane disappear while the shadow remains.

I saw a much earlier video on Youtube (by Carnite) where you could change the opacity of the Primitive plane under the View window, but that's not there anymore. Surely there must be a way to do this.

Miss B

What sinfany is looking for is something like my attached renders.

As I said in my earlier response, I did these from a tutorial on the old forum archive, but it's not available at this time, or I would've supplied the link. The backgrounds in both renders were added in postwork.

Be sure to click each to see unsquished.

Novica

sinfany said:

Thanks for your suggestions - I think I wasn't clear enough earlier - what I'm after is to make the Plane disappear while the shadow remains.

I saw a much earlier video on Youtube (by Carnite) where you could change the opacity of the Primitive plane under the View window, but that's not there anymore. Surely there must be a way to do this.

Are you talking about just selecting the plane in the Scene Tab, going to Surfaces, and putting the plane Opacity to zero?

sinfany

Novica, the opacity affects the shadow too. I remember something about setting "bricks". Is there a way to access those? The old video was made 4 years ago for a version of that time.

Thanks anyway.

prixat

There's a product which adds this capability:
http://www.daz3d.com/pwcatch

Cayman Studios

Why don't you just use the shadow-catcher ground plane from one of DimensionTheory's Yosemite Packs? Load the Environment, unparent the ground plane, then stick your own background in.

Miss B

sinfany said:

Novica, the opacity affects the shadow too. I remember something about setting "bricks". Is there a way to access those? The old video was made 4 years ago for a version of that time.

Thanks anyway.

Yes that's the Shader Mixer method I was referring to. I wish the archive of the old forums was still available. Unfortunately, I never copied the steps to save locally, or I would post them.

sinfany

Cayman - that's brilliant! Love the simplicity of your solution, it works just great and soooo easy!

Prixat - I'll keep an eye out on this product - sounds interesting.

Thanks everyone, I knew I'd find the answer here!

:-)

prixat

the link to Carnite’s youtube tutorials is in DAZ’s documentation:
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/interface/panes/shader_mixer/bricks/dzshadowcatcherbrick/start

...the mixer and bricks look a bit different in DS4.6 but the method still works.

sinfany

prixat - I remember following along with this tutorial last year but the new version looks different and I can't locate the shader mixer or bricks otherwise I could do this. Where can I find these things?

In the meantime, I used the Plane from the Yosemite Skydome. It caught the shadows but the are that was made invisible rendered as slightly darker than the background so there was some postwork in Photoshop. I'd rather make the plane myself and not have to work so hard.

Thanks

Jaderail

That is just the Setting in the Planes surfaces, you can edit that before you render. It loads set to match the Yosam that you picked. Not to match all you can use it with.

sinfany

Thanks Jaderail - makes sense. I'll do some experimenting.

prixat

The Shadow catcher is under Lighting/Shadows and the mix brick is under maths.

prixat

I'm using the 'City Limits layout'

Get to the mixer by 1-choosing the object, 2-choosing the surface then 3-the mixer itself.
Follow Caroline's video from there.