9.5.2

334 • CHAPTER 7
OBJECTS MENU • LIGHTING • 335
Area Shadows
Area shadows should preferably be used only when you have a little more time on your hands...
The Area shadow’s shape can be controlled very precisely since the light source used to generate the
Area shadow can be dened using the settings in the “Details” tab.
Hence, the Area shadow can be “controlled” two ways:
 Area shadow shape: “Details” tab “Area Shape”, “Object”, “Size X, Y, Z” (see
above)
 Area shadow quality: “Shadow” tab
Area Shadow Quality
The three settings “Accuracy”, “Minimum Samples” and “Maximum Samples” can now be used to
control the quality of your Area shadow.
The basic algorithm is pretty complex so we won’t discuss it here. What you should know, though:
Samples are required to render Area shadows. The more samples, the more homogeneous (less grainy)
the rendering will be, and the longer it will take to render. Fewer samples, on the other hand, mean
shorter render times.
Of course you could render a scene with the maximum number of samples possible but this wouldn’t
make any sense because parts of the scene would only require a minimum amount of samples and
the scene would simply take much too long to render.
This is why “Minimum Samples” and “Maximum Samples” are available. This gives you the ability to
set many or few samples, as needed (as well as an interpolation between them).
The “Accuracy” setting determines how (and how many) samples will be allotted in order to achieve
the best result. In the most critical areas, “Maximum Samples” may be set to its highest value.
The “Accuracy” setting has the most inuence in critical areas since high values lead to more samples
being used. In less critical areas, the “Minimum Samples” value is applied.
Follow these steps to achieve the optimal settings for your scene:
1. Find out where the critical areas in your scene are (grainy areas).
2. Set “Minimum Samples” and “Maximum Samples” to the same value and
render the scene using “Render Region” (see chapter 13, “Rendering”, p. 619
in your CINEMA 4D reference manual).
3. Raise the “Minimum Samples” and “Maximum Samples” equally until you
achieve a good result.
4. Lower “Minimum Samples” to 25% of the “Maximum Samples” value and
set “Accuracy” to 50%.
5. Finally, raise the “Accuracy” setting until you have a result you’re happy
with.