I have been using D|S for sometime so i could use poser items in bryce  but now i have taken to using it for doing renders with. I have a problem though with having shows cast from figures or objects in it and i haven't been able to find a tutorial anywhere on planet earth to help me with this problem.

If someone could either point me to the planet where there is a tutorial or let me know how or what i do in D|S to cast shadows i would be greatful.

Thanks heaps

Have you added lights?

You can set the lights to cast shadows.

Sorry forgot to say i have used lights but still can't get shadows to form..oh well guess its a matter of looking in things and messing around..

For the light, select either Raytraced or depth mapped in the shadow type parameter.
Make sure the objects you want to cast shadows have the Cast hadows proerty set to on (it is by default).
Make sure there's a floor or something to catch the shadows - unlike Bryce DAZ|Studio doesn't start off with a ground plane in place.
make sure there aren't too many lights, or the shadows may become washed out.

Thanks RHaseltine, i'll do everything you said an i think i have a couple of lights that may be causing the shadows to be washed out...I'll make some adjustments to them then work on the shadowing i need.

thanks again.

(click on pic to see full size)

Lakys has a way using two lights one set to negative and parented to the other

I gave up trying in the end. took everything i had set up in the image for the scene out and left only the figure in it. its in the gallery now called "Young Jessica"

Don't give up, adding shadows isn't that hard, and makes a big differnce in some images.

Make sure you have the latest version of DAZ Studio, you can download it free from daz3d.com

Try this and see if it works. Go to your render settings, and set it to 3Delight. Add a wall and V3 close to the wall. Next add some lights, with one in front of V3. Select the light that is in front of V3, then go to the Parameter tab. Lift the light off the floor, and pull in back ( Y and Z translate). Scroll down on the Parameter tab, and you will see an opition for Shadow Type. Try using Raytraced. You can also change the color of the light, the intesity and the angle spread. Make sure you have enough light to see V3 and the wall fairly good. Now you can do a spot render, to see if it works.

Adding the shadows to different lights give different effects. You can play around and make shadows from a chin, on the neck, and so forth. Just keep in mind when adding shadows to a light, that depending on where the light is, is where the shadow will fall. Just make sure you have something for the shadow to fall on. A shadow light behind the person, causes a shadow in front of them, but if the camera is too close, the shadow wont be in your image.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, if not, drop me a note, and I'll try to explain better. Good luck with your renders.

I have posted the image so you can see what i am talking about. Any help on it would be greatful.

My suggestion would be to play with the shadow settings.  Play with the bias, the size, etc.  I don't have D|S at work, and can't download anything, but, I do know that the only way to learn is to fool around with it ;) 

At DAZ, maclean has a really nice lighting tutorial ;)  It's listed in the tutorials in the D|S forum ;)

CrazyDawg, the image looks great. I'm happy it worked for you.

As for the size of the shadow, like MorriganShadow said, play around with the light casting the shadow. Try moving it closer or back, to the left and to the right.

For the picture that you poseted above, I believe moving the shadowed light back from the model, would make the shadow smaller. If moving it back makes your scene too dark, you can always add another non-shadowed light to brighten it up again.

I personally like the image...it makes it look like it is later in the day...when the shadows are longer.

you can create a spotlight and move it closer to the figure and higher up. Try looking through it in the camera  options in Daz Studio.That will help you see more or less where the light is actually pointing at.

Shadow larger than casting object = spotlight or point light close to object...

If you're looking for the smaller 'daylight' type of shadows, use a distance light instead.

I think things are being complicated a little too much for you here. Maybe I don't get exactly what your problem is, but from what I gathered you just wanted to cast shadows. Try this.

1 Load a figure and background prop/scenery

2 create a distant light

3 select the distant light and click the "cast shadows" button to turn the shadows on.

4 Adjust the position of the light using x and y rotate

That should really be all that you have to do. You can adjust the settings further from there if you wish of course, add more lights, etc, but remember that in D|S every light is created with the "cast shadows" turned off, so you'll have to turn them on on whichever light(s) you want to cast a shadow and leave them off of the ones that are just adding extra light to the scene.