Opacity not casting shadows

[Ghori]

Hi,
I've got this problem with Max5, I'm sure it's real easy to fix but I can't get around it.

If I apply an opacity mask to ..lets say a box object it still shows the entire box in the shadow when it should show only the solid areas....

what am I doing wrong?

Ghori

[kuman]

try using ray trace shadows instead

that should work out

-k

[Ghori]

Still does the same thing even with raytraced shadows!

[Ghori]

I figured out why it didn't work> I was using a skylight to cast a shadow....


I could only get it to work when I used a standard ray traced shadow light... sorta sucks...

Is there no other way to get this to work using any other light to achieve a more realistic result?

[fabrizzzio]

Shadow map can't cast shadows. Only using raytracing.
Anyway, if you cant with raytracing, maybe u could have a problem in the alpha mapping.

Hope it helps!

[Little Nicky]

I don't use Max5, so I don't know, but does the skylight have an option called "Use Opacity Maps"? Becuase it should cast shadows properly otherwise it would be of no use.

And always use Raytraced shadows ... they are slightly slower, but shadow maps are never completely correct, and also can't use filter colours.

[fabrizzzio]

the problem with raytracing... is that does not generate soft shadows... like shadow mapping...
Raytracing shadow are very sharp...

You could use area shadows... and if they're no available in your software you can simulate them.
There are a nice tutorial in the tutorial section of 3DTotal about faking area shadows.

[Little Nicky]

It can have soft shadows. I can't remember how :o but I've done it before.

[Jyncus]

Yeah, you can adjust the "shadow spread" ..or whatever its called under the ray traced shadows parameters.
I usually set mine somewhere between 15-20 for creating softer shadows. :)

[Little Nicky]

Thanks Jyncus.