Shadows on transparent background?

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1

Hello, my first post here on blenderartists.org

So, I am working on some sprites for a game, I’m animating 3D models and rendering the results
to .png’s witch i then make in to a sprite-sheet in Photoshop.
I would like to have the background transparent on on my .png’s but i would also like the models to have shadows.

I am wondering if there is anyway to get my mesh to cast a shadow even though the background is transparent?
Like some kind of invisible plain under it that only show shadows?

I am also working in cycles render, i found a “shadow only” option under the material section in blender render,
is there a similar option in cycles render?

I’m new to blender so forgive me if this question is stupid or obvious. Blender has been wonderful and everything’s been working like a dream.I would be so grateful if someone could help me!

2

You probably need to use the Light Path node in Cycles. It’s not totally clear to me what you’re trying to do, so I can’t be more specific. The “Is Shadow Ray” output is probably relevant.

It was never clear to me exactly what the various checkboxes shadow, shadeless, transparency etc. did. I usually played with them until I accidentally got what I wanted, then kept notes. But Cycles is all-powerful with these kinds of things, with Light Path and unlimited complexity of how shaders and things can be interconnected.