How do I make shadows soft in Maya?

How do I make shadows soft in Maya?

Controls the softness of shadow edges by setting the size (Shadow Radius or Light Radius) or angle (Light Angle) of the light. For example, a large light produces softer shadows than a small light. The light radius is also used for light glows to determine the occlusion/visibility (for point and spot lights).

How can you create softer shadows?

With area lights, you can simply scale the light larger to make a softer shadow, as shown in Figure 3.25. Figure 3.25 A small light source (left) makes harder shadows, while larger light sources (right) create softer shadows.

Why are my shadows pixelated in Maya?

The resolution of the light’s shadow depth map. If the Resolution is too low, shadow edges appear jagged or pixelated. Increasing the Resolution also increases rendering times, so set it to the lowest value that produces shadows of acceptable quality. As a starting point, set Resolution to the rendering resolution.

How do I turn on Shadows in Maya?

In the viewport panel menus, turn on Lighting > Use All Lights, and ensure that Lighting > Shadows is also on. If an object displays no shadow, select the object and ensure that Casts Shadows is on in the Render Stats section of the Attribute Editor.

What are soft shadows?

Soft light tends to “wrap” around subjects, producing shadows with soft, fuzzy edges. Softness of light increases with the size of the light source, as the emitted light rays will travel in many directions as they move toward the subject.

How do I make my shadows sharper in Maya?

Adjust your area light cone angle or directional angle to 100% or adjust a directional light to have sharp shadows. An object away from the floor will start to have soft shadows, a person standing at noon under sunlight will have the head shadow softer than the feet.

How do you make a hard shadow?

The general principle here is to decrease the size of the light source. In both cases, you might want to create harsh shadows on, or as a frame around your subject. The key to getting sharp, nicely defined shadows in frame is to use objects closer to your subject to cast these shadows.

How do you render a shadow in Maya?

Select the light for which you want to produce a shadow. In the Raytrace Shadow Attributes section of the light’s Attribute Editor, turn on Use Ray Trace Shadows. Select the surface on which you want to cast a shadow. In the Render Stats section of the surface’s Attribute Editor, turn on Casts Shadows.

Why does mental ray for Maya show different results than Depthmap?

If the mental ray shadow map attributes on Maya lights are disabled, mental ray for Maya derives most parameters for shadow maps from Maya’s depthmap settings, although most control values are not comparable. This causes different results, especially when modifying the filter values to achieve soft shadows.

How do I create shadow maps in mental ray for Maya?

When rendering in mental ray for Maya, you can generate shadow maps. You can use a standard shadow map, or a detail shadow map. The standard shadow map takes fewer samples than the detail shadow map, so they require more resolution. Detail shadow maps use shadow shaders at intersection points with the shadow-casting objects.

How soft are shadows supposed to be?

How soft your shadow is going to be depends on how far away your light is and how big it is. A light with a large radius close to the object will give a softer shadow while a light further away will give a harder shadow.

Why won’t mental ray for Maya load when a firewall is active?

mental ray for Maya crashes or won’t load when a firewall is active. Firewall software may block command ports. When you load mental ray for Maya, your firewall prompts you if you want “to allow the Maya application to access the internet: IP 127.0.0.1 port 1333.”.