Still getting shadows from an object with "Cast Shadows" turned off

Nanstein

Am I right in thinking that if I select an object in a scene, and turn "Cast Shadows" to "off" for that object, it means the object should not cast a shadow? It isn't working. That object is still casting a shadow. Is there another parameter I should be tweaking?

Thanks in advance :)

fixmypcmike

Can you post an image of the problem?

Richard Haseltine

Casting a shadow, or shaded on the surfaces away from the light? The latter isn't down to shadowing and so isn't affected by the shadow setting - you can turn it off in DAZ Studio by setting the Ambient strength for the item's surfaces to 100% and colour to white.

Nanstein

Richard Haseltine said:

Casting a shadow, or shaded on the surfaces away from the light? The latter isn't down to shadowing and so isn't affected by the shadow setting - you can turn it off in DAZ Studio by setting the Ambient strength for the item's surfaces to 100% and colour to white.

Thank you for your reply, Richard. :-) The spotlight is shining directly on the object that is casting an undesired shadow on objects behind it. While I do want some objects in the path of that light to cast shadows, I would like that particular object not to do so. Your suggestion that I change the ambient strength and color of that object's surfaces makes perfect sense.

I'm still confused, though, about what the "Cast Shadows" setting does and how I should use it.

Thanks so much for your help!
Janet

fixmypcmike

No, cast shadows off should do what you want. Can you post an image?

Richard Haseltine

Is it a static object or a figure? In DS4 the cast Shadows control on bones of a figure doesn't work, as the mesh (that generates the shadow) belongs to the root.

Nanstein

fixmypcmike said:

No, cast shadows off should do what you want. Can you post an image?

Thank you so much for confirming that for me. Thanks to your reply and Richard's reply, I've have discovered the gap in my knowledge and learned what I needed to know.

I was doing a scene with the Preload of Oremus, and I put a plane with a sky image in the background for something quick and pretty to go behind the architecture, and of course, the unwanted shadow was being cast by the wall, so what I was trying to do is set the wall's "cast shadows" setting to off, and it wasn't working because I was supposed to change that setting for the "Preload". It worked fine then :-)

Thank you so, so much!

Nanstein

Richard Haseltine said:

Is it a static object or a figure? In DS4 the cast Shadows control on bones of a figure doesn't work, as the mesh (that generates the shadow) belongs to the root.

Thank you so much! From now on I'll know to be more specific when I post a question. If I'd posted that the object casting the unwanted shadow was the wall object in the Preload of Oremus, I bet you'd have been able to tell me right away that I have to select the "Preload" and change the cast shadows parameter for it instead of selecting the wall object and trying to do it that way. I wish I'd have come back and read your replies sooner, but I ended up experimenting and found it that way.

What I did was put a plane in my scene with a pretty sky image, just to put something nice and quick behind the Oremus architecture, and of course, the wall and its fences were making the unwanted shadows. But finally I turned the cast shadows to off for the "Preload". I unparented everything but the walls themselves, and I don't know if that made a difference, but it's worked out fine now, and I'll know what to do next time.

Thank you both so much for your time and patience. :-)
Janet