Question about Shadows

DDCreate

I am working with an environment that has an option to make a screen Translucent. In the PDF file, it tells me to use an "infinate light" (which I assume is a distant light) and put it it on the same side of the screen as the figures so it casts a shadown on the opposite side. But it also says "under Shadows, set to Ray Traced with a shadow softness of -5%. I don't see anything that says Shadows or RayTraced. Was this PDF made with a different version of Daz in mind? In my Test Render, you can actually see the figures through the screen. It's closer to transparent than translucent. Does anyone have any insight on shadow casting in order to make sillhouettes? I'd appreciate any pointers.

Szark

which render engine are you using, sounds like you have it in Iray mode and not 3DL. But you do fail to provide info on what PDF you are refering to which makes it a tad hard to advise. ;)

DDCreate

Yes i am using Iray. It didn't say I was only supposed to use 3DL. I'm refering to the PDF that came with the item. It was a tutorial.

"

Next go to your render settings, we need to do some test renders

and we want them to be quick so change your Shading Rate to 1

and set your render size to 400x350.

Now we need a light to cast shadows, infinite lights are the

easiest to work with. Add an infinite light and set the Y rotate to

-90, under Shadows set it to Raytraced with a Shadow Softness

5% -real paper screens blur the edges of shadows significantly.

Then do a test render. You want to

make sure the shadows look good

from this side before messing with

backlighting on the other side.

Another quick test

render from the other

side shows the

shadow nicely.

Ambient Strength controls how brightly the light

shines through, I upped it to 30% on this render to

show it better."

Tobor

Any reference to shadow softness etc. will mean it's not for Iray. There are many products that came out well before Iray was released to D|S, and if the readmes and documentation are not updated, there will be no mention of which renderer the product is for.

You don't mention the product you are using, but silhouettes are simple and straightforward, and do not generally require the kind of realistic materials and lighting effects that Iray provides. Just switch to 3Delight and render from there.