Hello good people,
I’ve added a holdout material to an object so I can mask what’s behind it. It works perfectly but this object with the holdout material doesn’t receive shadows from some other objects in front of it. Is there a way to acheive this?
I’d appreciate any help.
Thank you very much
Change to a diffuse material and tick Object Properties > Cycles Settings > Shadow Catcher.
For best results, set the diffuse colour to the approximate colour of the object that it represents. This will mean it reflects that colour of light back at the scene.
Thank you very much!
But… what if my blender version doesn’t have that option and I can’t download a new one? Is there a way to achieve the same result in blender 2.78?
Some people found some rather complex ways of achieving a shadow catcher previous to 2.79, but they are rather complex and considerably slower to render. They did, however, allow for reflections on a shadow catcher.
Because “shadows” are a very fundamental part of the 3D illusion, I suggest that you plan on using compositing to provide shadows with the density and perhaps the color that you want in your scene. (For instance, you’ll notice that a shaded area outdoors is often slightly blue, from sky-light.)
Let the renderer inform you where the shadow is, then use this as a mask. In general, let the renderer provide you with the raw-materials for your scene, then assemble it “in post.”