Compositing in 3D Space with Action > About Lights and Lighting Effects > Relighting: Casting Shadows >

# Shadow Cast Menu Settings

The Shadow Cast menu settings are described as follows. Shadow types are dependant on your graphics card, so you may not see all of these settings.

Shadow Output Type box
  Select the type of shadow to output. This setting is repeated in the Output Options section of the Output menu.

Source Shadow Type box
  Select the type of shadow cast for the source node. This setting is available in the Shadow Cast menu only if the shadow cast node is a child of a source node, and is repeated in the Source menu.

Shadow Type box
  Select a mapping type for the shadow.

  Shadow Type: | Description:
  --- | ---
  3D Hard Shadows | Use 3D Hard Shadows for higher precision shadows when lights are close to the objects in the scene. These are best for hard edge shadows with penumbra effects, but can be slower.
  3D Soft Shadows | Use 3D Soft Shadows if you want faster soft shadows with lights further away from your objects. These shadows offer explicit control over softness.
  2.5D Shadows | 2.5D Shadows work best on transparent or semi-transparent objects, for example a shadow projected on a wall by smoke.

NoteSome of the settings in the Shadow Cast menu differ based on the shadow type you choose.

Resolution box
  Select a resolution to determine the quality of the selected mapping type.

Anti-Aliasing Sample box
  Select an anti-aliasing sampling level for the shadow cast.
  NoteDepending on your graphics card and the size of your Action scene, shadows may not appear or render properly with higher anti-aliasing sampling levels.

Anti-Aliasing Softness field
  Displays the softness value of the anti-aliasing sample for the shadow cast.

NoteJitter on 3D shadows is inherent to the shadow map technique. However, in most situations it can be go completely unnoticed. Some lighting situations which cause stretched shadows, such as lights close to the horizon, are very likely to create visible jittering. To alleviate jittering problems, you can try to use higher resolution, anti-aliasing, and anti-aliasing softness levels. In these cases, interactive manipulations in the image window may become taxing; therefore, you should activate Adaptive Degradation for Shadows.

Red Colour field
  Displays the amount of red in the shadow (based on the colour of the attached light). Editable.

Green Colour field
  Displays the amount of green in the shadow (based on the colour of the attached light). Editable.

Blue Colour field
  Displays the amount of blue in the shadow (based on the colour of the attached light). Editable.

Shadow Colour pot
  Displays the colour of the shadow (based on the colour of the attached light). Editable.

Proportional button
  Enable to change the Red, Green, and Blue colour fields proportionally.

Transparency field
  Displays the transparency level of the shadow. Editable.

Decay Type box
  Select the type of decay to apply to the shadow.

Decay field
  Displays the rate at which the shadow decreases for the chosen decay type. Editable.

Softness field
  Displays the softness of a shadow. Editable.

Density field
  Displays the amount of dark values to include in the softness of a 3D soft shadow. Editable.

Dark Threshold field
  Displays the amount of light values to include in the softness of a 3D soft shadow. Editable.

Focus field
  Displays the softness of the 2.5D shadow based on the distance from the light. Objects closer to the focus distance are less blurred. Editable.

Colour Bleed field
  Displays the amount of colour bleed in the 2.5D shadow from semi-transparent objects in the scene. Editable.

Flattening Mode box
  Select a flattening mode for the 2.5D shadow. Most of the time, Best Fit gives the best quality, but if you see clipping artefacts in the shadow, try one of the other modes.

Penumbra field
  Displays the softness of a 3D hard shadow. Editable.

Sampling Mode box
  Select a softness sampling mode for the 3D hard shadow.

Filter Samples field
  Displays the amount of filter samples to take into account when creating softness (X xY) for a 3D hard shadow. Available when Regular sampling is chosen in the Sampling Mode box. Editable.

Caster Samples field
  Displays the amount of shadow caster samples to take into account when creating softness (X xY) for a 3D hard shadow. Editable.

Auto Near/Far button
  Enable to automatically set the near and far parameters for the 3D shadow based on the objects in the scene.

Near field
  Displays the near distance of the start of the 3D shadow. Editable.

Far field
  Displays the far distance of the end of the 3D shadow. Editable.

Matte Threshold field
  Displays the value at which the alpha casts a 3D shadow. Editable.

Overlap field
  Displays the amount of overlap from the light source. Increase to remove imperfections in the 3D shadow. Editable.