Shadows and Opacity

I’ve got a vehicle, and parts of it dissolve out (opacity of some meshes are animated) to reveal other parts inside. As these parts disappear, the shadows they cast don’t smoothly disolve, but rather “jump” to opacity 0. It’s rather jarring. I’d like my shadows to smoothly dissolve out just as the shadow-casting objects do, but I don’t know which setting to change.
Thanks

ok… been thinking about this for a while. i dont think the opacity of an object effects shadows in blender[anybody correct me if im wrong] i’ve got some idea’s or half ideas

  1. separate lights for shadow
    turn of shadows on current lights> copy them>turn on “shadow only” option on these and fade them out
    you’ll need a shadow light for each part that fades away… then youl have over lapping shadows though…

  2. forget all about doin it in one render

first render full anim with all the parts> then render again with some parts removed> then agian with more parts removed

do a new render fr each part removed then fade between the renders in the sequence editor. the parts will seem to fade away.

hope this helps and isn’t too confusing…confused myself…

the alpha property of a material only affect its shadow if it is 0.00 (no shadow) otherwise, it’s full shadow.

Martin

You’re right there : two spot at the same place pointing the same way, one for lighting without shawdows and the other shawdow only.
Indeed both the ‘Shawdow’ ans ‘Only Shawdow’ must be checked for a spot so it will emit only shawdows. Strange but true.

  1. forget all about doin it in one render

If I’m not mistaking, it is possible on the contrary.
Take the curve for the alpha animating IPO and copy it to the energy IPO of you shawdow casting spot : this should animate the shadow as it will become less dark at the same time your object becomes transparent.

Many good ideas here. I’m worried if I add more lamps for shadows I won’t get the same look I have now. I think my best option is to render in multiple passes with various meshes on or off- don’t know why I didn’t even think about that possiblility before. Anyway, thank you all very much. Very helpfull, all.

Look, I’m one post away from being a guru! ha! That will be perhaps the most misleading title ever.