Hi guys Hope someone can help me. I spent ages modelling the treehouse you see in the pic, and arranged them into a village type setting. The only problem is when I add any figures to this setting they don't seem to cast any shadows. I want to use this for my planned online comic and I don't really want to export everything to bryce for every pic but I suppose that might be the only answer. The scene has three lights, only one with shadows turned on and the shadow map set to 1024 (Poser won't let it go any higher, but the manual implies it could go to 2048..) I'm stumped, any ideas anyone? Thanks in advance, Dal oops almost forgot, Tree by Nerd Kids clothes by Kimmarcus Hair is Koz's ponytail Face by Trav's morphs :) Every thing else is mine or poser's :)

As dark as the shadows from the structures are, it's hard to tell if the figure is casting any themselves. You might want to try turning the Shadow parameter dial down to around 0.25 to lighten them up. As to the map, click on the dial to open up the settings panel and type in a higher value in the Max entry line.

Thanks for the tips bushi, I've upped the shadow map size to 6000 , removed the ground texture and moved the figure away from the trees to make it easier to see the shadow. Still nothing. Turning the shadow dial down didn't help much either. Ah well, looks like I'll be exporting to bryce....

Hmmm ... Isn't there a selection on the Render Options panel to enable/disable rendering shadows?

Yes, and its on, thats why the trees are producing shadows. the mystery is why the character doesn't have a shadow. And its not just this character, its ANY figure I put in the scene...

I hope you will post the answer to this puzzle when you figure it out. I am curious. :)

Have you checked under object > properties to see if "cast shadow" is checked?

Wasn't there a problem like this happening before the 4.03 update? You do have that on right?

I thought of tht, but characters don't have a cast shadow option, only a visible option. Individual body parts have the shadows option but I've checked all of them and its on for every one. I'm beginning to lose the will to live :) Dal

Yep I've got 4.03... :)

I've decided to rebuild the scene from scratch, with all the figures I want in it first, then bring in the trees one by one and see what happens. Gonna do it tomorrow, I'm too tired to think straight now. I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks for the help/suggestions, All the best, Dal

Turn on the ground plane and resize it to cover the whole area. I've found that if the ground plane isn't on, I don't get any shadows. You might have to retexture it to match your environment, but hopefully that will help. Melanie

Are you using any spotlights in close to light the figure? If you are only using infinity lights for the scene, this may be the problem. Try this: Add a new light (or use one of your existing), set it to spotlight in the properties, now select your figure (body will work) go to the menu bar and select edit/copy for the figure. Reselect the (new) spotlight, go back to menu bare and do a edit/paste on the light. This should paste (locate) the light at the figures feet. Go to object/point at in the menubar and point the light at the ground. Now using in the x,y,z tran dials for the light, elevate and position the light so that it is above the figure, slightly forward, and off to one side (say the figure's right shoulder) Now render. The figure should now cast a shadow onto the ground plane. You may need to tweek the x,y,z to get the angle and position for the light/shadow you want, and you will also probably want to/need to adjust the intensity, map size, and shadow dial settings as well. Also, I recommend you use a white color light at 100% to start out with, than vary from there as you think best. Hope this helps. Rob

I have found that Poser will absolutely NOT cast ground shadows on anything but the ground. If you want shadows, you will have to use spots to get them, and not infinite.

I'm using the standard poser ground plane, and the trees and houses are quite happily casting shadows all over it, it just the darn figure that isn't!

I've encountered this before. if you use the standard ground plane and scale it WAY up to cover your secne poser WILL cast the shadow just somewhere else. Maybe on the other side of the scene. I made my own replacement ground prop. A really big box that lays flat. it has a lot more faces too. This gives much better results. You can create you own "better ground" using any 3D modeler. www.strata.com has a free modeler that can easily do this. make sure the box has lots of faces on the side you will use. maybe 100 X 100. This makes the shadows sharper and more predictable.

I've had this happen before. Try going around it by putting a really big square at ground level, and using that for the ground, putting the texture on that. That should catch shadows.

can you explain..."a really big box that lays flat, with alot more faces" I am not sure what that means. Thanks! :)

I use Nerd's backdrop prop and it's wonderful! It's a flat object that lies flat on the floor, then curves up to stand upright at the back. A picture file can be textured onto it and it gives the illusion of an environment in your scene, and you get the benefit of ground shadows. I use it in almost all my renders now. Thanks, Nerd! You're a genius! Melanie