I feel like a real idiot. May someone please go over with me on shadows again. I get the shadow before I render, then after I render the shadow is gone. Yes, I am new at all this, but feel rather inept. I wrote a post down a bit and tried the advice but still the shadow dissapears when I render it. Is there more I should do to get the shadow to stay? Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.

Check your render options. There's a check box that controls whether shadows show up in renders. You can also control anti-aliasing and bump maps from the same box. Other things to consider: The light properties of each light control whether that particular light can cast shadows. The properties of each object control whether that object can cast shadows. On rare occasions you might come across a mesh that isn't capable of casting shadows. That's a real pain but it doesn't happen often.

The "shadow" you see in the preview window is not a true shadow - it's an alignment tool that reveals relative placement of objects in relation to the ground plane. It doesn't display when rendered because it's not cast by a light source. YOU have to create the lights for your scene (unless you're content with the defaults). Shadows are controlled in 3 places. Each object can have it's shadow turned off or on. Each light can be adjusted for HOW MUCH SHADOW it casts (turning a light source to 50% shadow intensity is a good way to allow dim lighting for an interior scene - 100% shadows means interiors are completely dark when rendered). And finally - you can select to render with shadows or not in render options. Clear? To recap; Blobby "shadow-thing" under objects in preview mode is only an alignment guide - not a real shadow. Each object can have it's shadow turned on/off as desired. Each light can have shadows on/off/or graduated in between. You can decide to render with or without shadows in render options. If you want to simulate your alignment "Shadow" in renders, just create a light directly above your subject with shadows turned on in all 3 places. Have fun!

Thank you so much to both of you...I will try this and see how it works. I appreciate the time you took. I tried to read the tutorial but it mixed me up even more. Thank you again.

Shadows eluded me for a long time so I try to keep is simple with a standard procedure to start: Light 1: Set with no shadows and with a low intensity to provide ambient light ... this one can be pointed by using the dials reliably. Light 2 and 3: Set as spotlights, set to point at key parts of key figures or props, with a shadow set at .5. By pulling back from the scene, the spotllights can be seen as reflections on the ground plane. If they can't I reset the xyz settings at zero and move them as needed ... avoiding walls and such. For fancier settings, more spotlights are added with more or less shadow ... other settings are refinements on this.

Thank you so much...I have been practicing and still no shadows but hopefully I will get the hang of it. Many thanks again.

And then again, sometimes, not matter what the heck you do-- there are no shadows rendered. Or whatever shadows there are, are cast on places you didn't want like the sky. but if you turn off those shadows, you get nothing on the ground. Emily wishing there was a button for cannot receive shadows.

I suppose I could always smudge somthing in psp then claim it is a new art form.

I did a picture that had no shadow and it came out like a surrealistic effect. I had hoped to get a shadow but no such luck.

Thank you for your reply

In order for a ground shadow to render, the figure(s) must actually be on a flat object - the shadow you see pre-render is just a visual cue for you to know where Poser says the ground is. Load a 2d prop and rotate it flat the ground (or squash down a box) and then put a figure on it. (also you should change it's width and length settings to encompass some some space - simulating a floor or ground) Set or load some lights and you should see a ground shadow upon rendering. Well after all, there's actually something there to take a shadow now. Or just to see, just load a box and put a figure in front of it or seat it and render - you should see a shadow. Also the shadow intensity dial in the lights help as does the shadow map setting and I think one just called shadow - increasing all of those at once or in various combinations makes for different shadow types.

How did you make the ground? Is it a prop or an imported background?

Thank you so much!

I made the ground in Bryce and then made a jpg out of it. I dont like to render in Bryce ( I know you can import Poser to Bryce) but it takes too long to render and I like to keep them seperate. I am laughing because I spent a king's ransome on Poser and Bryce and the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know!

OK, that's why you aren't getting ground shadows. Can't cast shadows on a background jpg. You need a mesh there to recieve them. You could try some of the environment props from the free stuff or go to www.runtimedna.com and look for the "infinity cove" in their free stuff section. You should be able to use your jpg on the infinity cove backdrop and get shadows. Nerd's backdrop tool in the store here is another possibility. Or, you could put the effort into moving the whole scene to Bryce. Bryce is a much better Renderer than Poser so you'll get the best results that way.

I like to import Bryce rendered backgrounds as well but I do it only when I'm going to be close enough for the figure's shadow not to need to be visible. This is because the imported background is only a part of the render. There's no interaction with it and figures in Poser so there's still nothing to accept a shadow. Some of the items for free and for sale like the various background prop objects - Nerds and runtimeDNA's to name a couple are loadable props (like a backdrop in a photog studio) that take image textures and then when used with a figure pick up the figure's shadow - simply because it's there as a real thing that the figure 'interacts' with. (or casts a shadow on) Ajax, one way for ground is to load the 2d prop from the prop list, resize it and position it flat to the floor - put figures on, texture with dirt or tiled floor image and that's it.

Thank you so much for taking time to respond and give me advise. I am in the midst of doing another picture and I can see now how the shadows render when there is a mesh present. Many thanks again!

If you want the ground shadow visible on the image above, this is what you do. 1. Render everything, paste it onto the background. Remove the ground plane. 2. Turn on the ground shadow, make sure no light circle guides are visible and then antialiase the image, paste it onto the background. 3. Re render the image. You should now have the ground, the shadow and the model properly rendered. If your model is just standing over a bg Jpeg image then go straight to point 2. If you want to use the light shadows then you can improve the quality on them by double clicking on the map size dial and then increase the max limit setting in the menu that pops up, but it uses a lot of memory so stick to 2000 - 5000 as max setting and only use it if you have to (if you get large visible jags in the shadow) Staale

Thank you so much to both of you. I am learning more and more. I also enjoy our tutorials RonKnights from the free section.

I'm glad I could help.