Guide: Hide Shadows - Matte Materials - Camera visibility

[linvanchene]

Those features are not mentioned much on the forum.
I also had to try around to remember how this works so maybe a refreshment helps others as well...

Hiding the shadows of an object

There is a Shadow Visibilty option in the parameters tab.

With that option you can select if the selected object is casting shadows or not.

In this example the Shadow Visibility on the cube is switched off.

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Matte Materials

If you just want to view the shadow of an object but not the rest of the object that receives the shadow you have to use the "Diffuse" material option and select "Matte - On"

In this example a cube is casting a shadow on a plane in the daylight environment.
Because on the plane diffuse material Matte is ON the rest of the plane is actually hidden.
What you can still see in the scene is the cube and its shadow with the daylight environment background.

In the Environment tab switch Alpha Channel ON to hide the environment.

In this example the daylight environment background is now also hidden.

This way you can have an object cast a shadow and have the rest of the scene hidden.

[sixb0nes]

Good summary. I'm going to mention "shadow catcher" so it will show up for the next person who searches for it

[DrHemulen]

Thanks, I never realized how nice the shadow thing is for lighting interiors. Now you can just put all of your meshlights outside the room

[linvanchene]

Camera visibility

You want to see the shadow of an object cast in the scene but not see the object itself?

-> The Camera visibility will do just that.

Cube - Camera visibility On

Cube - Camera visibility Off

Note 1: Raise the object that casts the shadow a tiny bit from the ground to prevent artefacts

Note 2: The object will still cast a reflection.

Cube Reflective Plane - Camera visibility Off

-> Use a diffuse material if you do not want the hidden object visible in reflections.

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Visibility control

The Visibility control lets you quickly adjust the transparency of the whole object.
Shadows and reflections will be adjusted accordingly.

Cube - Visibility Control

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[Notiusweb]

Beautiful, thanks so much!