I have a semi complex model of a tree in a scene with several linked duplicates to create a forest setting. Fairly low res, but good enough for my purposes at the moment. My CPU is not the most powerful thing, and when rendering the scene, Blender crashes.
I’m wondering if there is any way to use a simplified shape to cast a shadow on the ground in the scene, that doesn’t actually render? So detailed tree models would show but the cast shadow would come from a transparent (or non displayed) blob. Thanks for any ideas!