Link light sources to surfaces to control shadow calculations if rendering with mental ray

For more information about linking light sources, see Link light sources to surfaces to control shadow calculations.

To link selected lights to surfaces using shadow linking

1. Select the lights and surfaces you want to link.
2. In the Rendering menu set, select Lighting/shading > Make Shadow Links.
3. When rendering with mental ray, shadow linking must be used in conjunction with raytraced shadows. Click on each light source and select Use Ray Trace Shadows in the light’s Attribute Editor. In the Render Settings window, enable Raytracing.
4. In the Render Settings window, select the mental ray renderer and click the Quality tab. Set Shadow linking to On in the Shadows section.

To break links between lights and surfaces using shadow linking

1. Select the lights and surfaces you want to link.
2. In the Rendering menu set, select Lighting/shading > Break Shadow Links.
3. When rendering with mental ray, shadow linking must be used in conjunction with raytraced shadows. Click on each light source and select Use Ray Trace Shadows in the light’s Attribute Editor. In the Render Settings window, enable Raytracing.
4. In the Render Settings window, select the mental ray renderer, Quality tab and expand the Shadows section. Set Shadow linking to On.