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General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: radix on November 13, 2016, 09:11:33 PM

Title: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 13, 2016, 09:11:33 PM
Hi everyone,

I've imported some cubes from maya into terragen. I would like for the cube visibility to be turned off, but for the shadows cast by the cubes to still appear on the landscape. Is this possible? Or is it possible to render shadows cast from an object as a separate matte?

I thought I could just go into the obj's rendering tab, switch Render to Invisible, and leave Cast Shadows on, but nothing appears to happen. I've been mucking with Render Layers as well without much luck.

I assume this is possible but I'm struggling with it...
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Kadri on November 13, 2016, 10:04:18 PM

Make a new group and try this:



[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 13, 2016, 11:45:08 PM
Hey Kadri, thanks for the help, but I couldn't get it working on my end. If that worked for you than think I'm missing something elsewhere because the cubes are still showing up in my renders:
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Dune on November 14, 2016, 02:40:51 AM
I don't see the problem, actually. This was TG3, but still should work.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Kadri on November 14, 2016, 04:18:16 AM

That is confusing. Your scene renders as it should on my side.
This is a direct render of your scene.


Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 14, 2016, 10:45:40 PM
@Kadri - very strange :(

@Dune - It looks like the cube you're using originated within Terragen, e.g. it wasn't imported using the obj reader. I tried the same, just setting render to invisible and leaving cast shadows checked, and got the same results as you. Seems like it's just the obj reader that's giving me trouble.

I did a new test, exported a new cube from maya, imported it into terragen with the obj reader. It seems like even when I change the cube's settings, nothing updates in the actual render (see attached).

At a loss... I feel like there's just some setting ticked somewhere that is doing this, or i'm missing something really obvious... Sort of hard to troubleshoot if it's working for everyone else. Using the pro version of tg4, btw.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Kadri on November 14, 2016, 11:27:57 PM

I use Windows 10, yours looks like a Mac ?
Any Mac user who could test Radix Zip file above?
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 15, 2016, 01:15:24 AM
Thanks Kadri, yeah I'm on a mac,  10.9.5.

Anyone else out there ever encountered this? Can anyone on a mac test the tgd?

Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Dune on November 15, 2016, 02:07:21 AM
That is weird indeed, looks like a bug, to be honest.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Oshyan on November 15, 2016, 07:20:58 PM
We are investigating.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 15, 2016, 09:10:05 PM
Great, thank you Oshyan
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on November 16, 2016, 04:26:58 AM
Quote from: radix on November 14, 2016, 10:45:40 PM
@Kadri - very strange :(

@Dune - It looks like the cube you're using originated within Terragen, e.g. it wasn't imported using the obj reader. I tried the same, just setting render to invisible and leaving cast shadows checked, and got the same results as you. Seems like it's just the obj reader that's giving me trouble.

I did a new test, exported a new cube from maya, imported it into terragen with the obj reader. It seems like even when I change the cube's settings, nothing updates in the actual render (see attached).

At a loss... I feel like there's just some setting ticked somewhere that is doing this, or i'm missing something really obvious... Sort of hard to troubleshoot if it's working for everyone else. Using the pro version of tg4, btw.

Have you tried running the ,obj through PoseRay prior to importing into TG? Pose Ray fixes all kinds of quirks for me.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on November 16, 2016, 04:37:40 AM
Here is a cylinder I created in Imagine 3D which does no U/V mapping so after converting it to .obj in Deep Exploration I ran it through PoseRay to get mapping and texture which you see in the preview on the right....on the left only shadow
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 17, 2016, 01:00:49 AM
Hey Bobby, thanks for the suggestion, does PoseRay have a version for Mac? The only version I found was for windows. At first I thought this visibility issue might be a problem with the obj, but then it worked fine for Kadri on his windows machine, so perhaps it's just a mac based issue, some sort of bug
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on November 17, 2016, 02:54:33 AM
Quote from: radix on November 17, 2016, 01:00:49 AM
Hey Bobby, thanks for the suggestion, does PoseRay have a version for Mac? The only version I found was for windows. At first I thought this visibility issue might be a problem with the obj, but then it worked fine for Kadri on his windows machine, so perhaps it's just a mac based issue, some sort of bug

D'oh, sorry about that...I will happily run them thru for you as PoseRay keeps avoiding that issue...but if it worked fine for Kadri...hmmm, maybe you're right. Still if y wanna try I'm game.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 17, 2016, 03:33:14 AM
Yeah if you want to run it through and send it back that'd be great, can't hurt to try. The .obj is attached up above in the third post, 'cubeShadowTest.zip'. Thanks!
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on November 17, 2016, 01:38:59 PM
Quote from: radix on November 17, 2016, 03:33:14 AM
Yeah if you want to run it through and send it back that'd be great, can't hurt to try. The .obj is attached up above in the third post, 'cubeShadowTest.zip'. Thanks!

Try this one.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 18, 2016, 12:04:16 AM
Didn't work :/ thanks though
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on November 18, 2016, 01:07:56 AM
Quote from: radix on November 18, 2016, 12:04:16 AM
Didn't work :/ thanks though

well at least we know it's only a mac thing(sorry) Have you submitted it as a bug?
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: radix on November 18, 2016, 01:12:41 AM
Yup seems that way. Oshyan said they are investigating, but for future ref, is there a forum where people submit suspected bugs?
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on November 18, 2016, 01:51:25 AM
Quote from: radix on November 18, 2016, 01:12:41 AM
Yup seems that way. Oshyan said they are investigating, but for future ref, is there a forum where people submit suspected bugs?

Maybe support and development, I've seen bug reports there.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Dune on November 18, 2016, 02:59:38 AM
If you post here, it'll be picked up anyway.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Oshyan on November 18, 2016, 04:35:15 PM
Indeed, this bug is already "submitted". The process is not terribly formal. ;)

I should note, however, that our Mac developer is located in New Zealand and is quite near the recent 7.8 earthquake there. So our ability to address this bug may be delayed a bit as he's offline for the moment (but is, thankfully, OK!).

- Oshyan
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on November 18, 2016, 08:56:44 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on November 18, 2016, 04:35:15 PM
he's offline for the moment (but is, thankfully, OK!).

- Oshyan

Whew...thankfully is right.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Dune on November 19, 2016, 02:03:57 AM
Yeah, right, Jo, good to hear he's safe. Saw some photo's on google of the devastation, and I certainly hope his walls are still straight.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Kadri on November 19, 2016, 02:14:12 AM

Yes good to hear that he is safe. Curious how the place he lives is affected.
His home is more to the north i think?
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: AP on November 19, 2016, 04:32:35 AM
Hopefully everyone effected by the recent chain of events can pull through. All the best.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on November 19, 2016, 10:46:18 AM
These are scary days for the Ring of Fire countries...Lots of friends in Calif. and I worry endlessly about them wishing they'd come home to the ever so solid Canadian Shield.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: jo on December 19, 2016, 04:40:38 AM
Hi everyone,

I was just checking in on this issue as I'm just now starting to get back into TG work after the earthquake. Thanks for the good wishes. We were very much in the middle of the earthquake. Fortunately nearly everyone in the village where I live was ok, although very sadly someone did die. Our house wasn't too badly effected, so far just some damage to the foundations which will need repair. Of course pretty much everything inside ended up on the floor. We were very lucky though. A number of houses in the village and the local area were very badly damaged and will be demolished. The roads were badly damaged too, we weren't able to leave the village for over a week.

There is one of the major fault lines on the South Island running past just at the top of the village (the Hope Fault) so we always knew there was the possibility of a big earthquake, but I guess we weren't expecting it so soon! In fact the Hope Fault didn't really rupture much, but a whole lot of others did. Still quite a few aftershocks, most of which seem to happen just as you've got off to sleep, annoyingly..

Regards,

Jo

Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Kadri on December 19, 2016, 05:13:31 AM
Quote from: jo on December 19, 2016, 04:40:38 AM
Hi everyone,

I was just checking in on this issue as I'm just now starting to get back into TG work after the earthquake. Thanks for the good wishes. We were very much in the middle of the earthquake. Fortunately nearly everyone in the village where I live was ok, although very sadly someone did die. Our house wasn't too badly effected, so far just some damage to the foundations which will need repair. Of course pretty much everything inside ended up on the floor. We were very lucky though. A number of houses in the village and the local area were very badly damaged and will be demolished. The roads were badly damaged too, we weren't able to leave the village for over a week.

There is one of the major fault lines on the South Island running past just at the top of the village (the Hope Fault) so we always knew there was the possibility of a big earthquake, but I guess we weren't expecting it so soon! In fact the Hope Fault didn't really rupture much, but a whole lot of others did. Still quite a few aftershocks, most of which seem to happen just as you've got off to sleep, annoyingly..

Regards,

Jo

Sounds scary. We have here serious earthquakes too. I can kinda anticipate what you got thru Jo.
     
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Dune on December 19, 2016, 09:09:34 AM
Good to hear from you, Jo. I'm glad damage is minor.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: bobbystahr on December 19, 2016, 12:12:06 PM
Great to see you posting Jo,with no major damage; had us very concerned if I may speak for others. Some friends of mine had to cancel the NZ leg of their tour as the NZ leg coinsided eggs ackley with the shake up.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: JoeB on March 28, 2017, 05:23:14 PM
Just curious if this has been resolved on the Mac side of things yet.
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: aokcub on February 21, 2018, 07:14:33 AM
I think this has not been resolved. I confirmed with v4.1.18 for OS X.

It correctly works on v4.1.18 for Windows.

Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: aokcub on February 21, 2018, 07:19:20 AM
oh I have just seen the jo's reply about earthquake... I hope you recover from damage...
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Oshyan on February 21, 2018, 05:15:27 PM
Yes, that's correct. We have a new update in the works which should resolve it.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: aokcub on February 22, 2018, 08:12:17 AM
Nice  ;)
Title: Re: cast shadows from invisible obj
Post by: Matt on April 14, 2018, 09:25:54 PM
This has been fixed in 4.1.20 on the Mac and 4.1.19 on Linux. These builds are now available through "Check for Updates."

Matt