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barbapapa
11-01-2005, 11:46 AM
Final gather is suposed to give really soft shadows by it self -well, obviously with the help of a source of light- (at least it does in maya and max)Here in xsi i havent found the way to give the image that soft look that goes from the dark part of the shadow and helps ray traced shadows to be not just a gray and lame projection of the object over other surface. In XSI all i get is that lame shadow that im talking about.
Sure is my fault because i´ve witnessed the capavility of XSI to make neat renders, but i just dont know what else to tweak in order to get done something that seams really easy.
With this problems to make good looking shadows in XSI i fell i just dont have enough control over them. (i know i can use area lights..but i always have run away from them in other packages and i sure will be doing the same in xsi ...Render times ahhhhh!)Dont know how you feel guys , but the Umbra parameter just doesent cuts the cake... is the only control you have over raytrace shadws. Please give me some tips , i have tryed all the parameters without having a good result, and i repeat. I know its me, just another maya user coming over the rows of XSI



thanks in advanced
Kzin
11-01-2005, 12:09 PM
for soft shadows without fg in xsi you have two ways. first, you can use area lights, select the light, open the ppg, go to area and set the options like your needs. the other way is to use shadow maps. the same like before but now go to shadow map in the light ppg and set the values like you want. then you have also to check shadow maps in render ppg under shadows. its easy and you get soft shadows.

kzin
greyface
11-01-2005, 12:09 PM
If you want soft shadows with Final gather, don't use area lights, use cards or skydomes. Increase the incandescence parameter of the material to make it create more final gather light. You can add 2 or 3 bounces to the final gather if you have xsi 5.
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