Shape/Area Shadows Rollout

The Shape/Area Shadows rollout lets you choose the light shape used to generate shadows.

Note: These controls work only with the mental ray renderer. The scanline renderer does not calculate photometric area shadows (although with the scanline renderer you can use Area shadows to get a similar effect). Also, the scanline renderer does not render a photometric area light as self illuminating, or display its shape in renderings.

Interface

Emit Light From (Shape) group

[drop-down list]
Use the list to choose the shadow-generating shape. When you choose a shape other than Point, dimension controls appear in the Emit Light group, and a Shadow Samples control appears in the Rendering group.
  • Point Calculates shadows as if the light were emitted from a point.

    The Point shape has no other controls.

  • Line Calculates shadows as if the light were emitted from a line.

    The Linear shape has a Length control.

  • Rectangle Calculates shadows as if the light were emitted from a rectangular area.

    The Area shape has Length and Width controls.

  • Disc Calculates shadows as if the light were emitted from a disc.

    The Disc shape has a Radius control.

  • Sphere Calculates shadows as if the light were emitted from a sphere.

    The Sphere shape has a Radius control.

  • Cylinder Calculates shadows as if the line were emitted from a cylinder.

    The Cylinder shape has Length and Radius controls.

Rendering group

Light Shape Visible in Rendering
When on, the shape of the light is visible in renderings as a self-illuminated (glowing) shape, provided the light object is within the field of view. When off, the light’s shape is not rendered, only the light it casts. Default=off.

See Self-Illuminating Photometric Lights

Shadow Samples
Sets the overall quality of shadows for lights that have an area. If the rendered image appears grainy, increase this value. If rendering is too time consuming, decrease it. Default=32.

This setting doesn’t appear in the interface when Point is chosen as the shadow shape.

Topics in this section
Parent topic: Rollouts for Photometric Lights