Alphashadow and Keepenvironment checkboxes

Sat Jun 02, 2012 5:18 am

I am a bit confused about the alphashadow and keepenvironment parameters. It seems from what little there is in the forums about alphashadows is that it has to do with the opacity of a given material, but the term "shadow" seems odd in this respect and the manual is too brief with an explanation. Easy enough for me to experiment with that one I guess. But the other parameter, keepenvironment just doesn't seem to have any effect on the final render other than allow you to see the environment as it is rendering...when the image is saved out, there appears to be no difference whether it is clicked on or not.

Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:13 am

alphashadow means that if you have an object that is not fully opaque it will cast a partially strong shadow (like it should in RL), while before we had that param every object casted a 100% shadow, even if it was almost entirely transparent.

The other param is just as you described, allowing you to see the background but not render it.

Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:26 am

Thanks for the clarification, Matej.
I hope they offer a simple alpha channel as well, not just a knocked-out object. Today, I had to use PShop and Channel Mixer to get an opaque mask for the object. Just one more step to decrease workflow.

Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:02 pm

treddie wrote:I hope they offer a simple alpha channel as well, not just a knocked-out object. Today, I had to use PShop and Channel Mixer to get an opaque mask for the object. Just one more step to decrease workflow.

You man a grayscale mask where black = transparent & white = opaque (or viceversa)? Yeah, they could add this pass in the "deep channel kernel" for a speedier workflow.