An invisible shadow-casting object in 3ds Max & Arnold

Litho

Hi,

I am experimenting with stylised foliage and trying to create better feel of light and shadows. One idea I want to try is to create much broader shadow casting geometry than that of the plant.

In game engines you have shadow casting objects as separate simplified geometry than the model you see. But I'm struggling to find a shader in 3ds Max's Arnold that would be invisible to the camera, but cast shadows.

Does anyone know of a solution to this?

oglu

That should be an attribute on the geometry. Its called primary visibility. Or use a matte shader. Or flag the object as holdout.

Litho

Thank you!

I found primary visibility with your help in the Arnold manual and that's exactly what I'm looking for.

So In 3ds Max you have to apply an Arnold Properties modifier to the geometry. In General Properties tick Visibility and untick Camera (Primary Rays)

You can also control the amount of shadowing by applying a transparent material to the geometry.