HOW DO I?: Window Shadows Through Glass

Support Compositing and Post Processing
1

I wanted to have the shadow of a window frame being cast on a staircase so I modelled a normal enough looking window frame(just the one thats a pluss sign style) and it worked pretty good…but

The Problem arose when I wanted to put in the glass widow pane. I just took a plane and put it right in the center of the frame and then set the material to do some raytransparency that looked as good as I could make it. When I hit the render it just went solid black where the window’s ‘pluss sign’ was supposed to show up on the stairs. How do I make it work? that would be a pretty harsh bug if transparency messes up shadows instead of complimenting them. ( Oh and I tried Ztransparency too and it made no difference. )

2

You have to have Tra Shadow, (transparent shadows), set on the object recieving the shadows. On your stairs in this case.

3

You can also fake things like this by putting masks on a spotlight. It’s the same “gobo” idea that’s used in theatre (and film) to simulate, say, moonlight that’s hitting the ground through trees.

Your mantra, in CG, should be just the same as in filmmaking: “how can I get this effect, as cheaply and as quickly as possible?” They don’t get it by modeling reality; they don’t plant trees.