Casting shadows

Casting shadows on the fur makes it appear more natural and rich-looking. However, there are certain parameters on the lights you may need to customize when casting shadows from fur. This tutorial is a continuation of Basic fur setup and Using guide hairs.

Note

The fur in the screen captures has color that was created in Changing the color of the fur using the color attribute.

You can do this tutorial without completing the Using guide hairs and Changing the color of the fur using the color attribute tutorials. This example simply uses red fur for better visualization and contrast in the render.

  1. Click the Spot Light tool on the shelf, then click in the scene view to place it.

    For more information on placing lights, see the Lights and Cameras help.

  2. On the Shadow tab of the Spot Light node, set the Shadow Type to Depth Map Shadows.

    Rendering with Ray-Traced Shadows will significantly slow down render time. It much better to use Depth Map Shadows when rendering fur.

  3. Make sure the Auto-generate Shadow Map parameter is turned on. It should already be on by default.

  4. Place another Grid object in your scene by clicking it on the shelf, then clicking in the scene view to place it.

    You should try to place it in the same spot as the grid you created in Basic fur setup. This step is for visualization purposes, and is specific to this tutorial. Normally, any shadows would be cast on the skin geometry of your character.

  5. Scale the new grid object slightly larger than your patch of fur. This will provide a base for the shadows to be cast on.

  6. In order to see the shadows, you must render your image.

Remember, the Fur SOP should only be used for visualization in the viewport. In order to render, it is highly recommended that you use a Fur Procedural, which will delay the generation of fur until render time. For more information on setting this up, see Basic Fur Setup.

Tips

  • You may want to increase the Pixel Samples to 3 on the Depth Map Options sub-tab of the Shadow tab on your Spot Light. This will improve the quality of the shadows.

  • You can also increase the Resolution. However, increasing the Pixel Samples and Resolution will increase render time.

    For example, try a Resolution of 512 for previewing and 2000 for rendering. Also, try setting your Pixel Samples to 3x3 for the shadow maps (Depth Map Options sub-tab of the Shadow tab on the light) and 8x8 in mantra (Render sub-tab of the Properties tab).

  • If you do not see any shadows being generated, try increasing the Value of the individual hairs on the width attribute and decreasing the Density of the fur on the Fur Procedural.

  • Rendering with shadows naturally slows down render time. If you are simply doing test renders you may want to render without shadows.

Remember, the Fur SOP should only be used for visualization in the viewport. In order to render, it is highly recommended that you use a fur procedural shader, which will delay the generation of fur until render time. For more information on setting this up, see Basic fur setup.