Render tag to not generate shadows for object- Frustrated

D

dynsight

0
Look, I get it. This is good software, but sometimes the Help is not much help.

Here is the issue: I have an object that I don't want to create a shadow. Great. I will add a render tag. Here is what the help manual says:

​
Render Tag​

The render tag offers object level access to some settings of the renderer. It allows for example to turn off shadow casting for certain object. Since sometimes the shadow of some objects isn't even visible on the rendered image. So the main purpose of this tag is to decrease rendering time. ​
Attention: You can only add a render tag to polygon objects. Since these are the only objects which are actually visible in the renderer.​
Properties​

  • Cast shadows: Defines if an objects casts a shadow or not.
  • Receive shadow: Defines if an object receives shadows.
  • Visible in Radiosity: Use this property to remove an object from the radiosity solver. For example windows (transparent materials). So light can pass through the window in the radiosity solution.
  • Receive Radiosity: If you are rendering a object with a glassy material it doesn't makes sense to calculate the radiosity solution on that surface because glass doesn't have a diffuse material component. So radiosity doesn't have any effect on the appearance of glass. To reduce rendering time you can turn off the calculation of the radiosity solution on certain objects.
  • Receive Caustics: Disable this property if you don't want to see caustics on that object.
  • Visible for primary rays: If you turn off that property the object will become invisible in the rendered image. But it will still cast shadows.
  • Filter texture: Disable that property if you want to disable texture filtering on that object.
Okay, HOW do I add it. in my object browser there are tags on the right, but I don't see a way to add a render tag.

But I figure it out. Added it to the object, but there is NO Cast Shadows option:

1599440099601.png


How do I set an object not to cast shadows?
 
Yes, that worked. But this is why I find the manual so frustrating. As a PM and technical writer, I find this program a bit lacking in the documentation area. BUT the program is excellent in other areas.
 
dynsight said:
Yes, that worked. But this is why I find the manual so frustrating. As a PM and technical writer, I find this program a bit lacking in the documentation area. BUT the program is excellent in other areas.
Click to expand...

Just bear in mind that for the programmer and a lot of people on this forum, English is a second language. They're damn good at it, but they may not always put weight on the same concepts that native English speakers (like me) do. For example, the definition of "Visible in Radiosity" from the manual says "Use this property to remove an object from the radiosity solver." It's not a huge leap to replace "radiosity" with "shadow", especially for those who have a firm understanding of precisely how the rendering calculations work. I betcha that copy paste was at work here too, and it just never got cleaned up. Drop the word "in" from most of those definitions and they make perfect sense.
 
It's not important, but while Monkey is right, in this case with the "in" it wouldn't neither make much sense in German. The in comes probably more from thinking in categories like "classes".

And yes, Cheetah's manual isn't quite the shining example how it's done, but actually it's not a big problem to try something out.
 
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