9.5.2

340 • CHAPTER 7
OBJECTS MENU • LIGHTING • 341
In Figure 1, above, a series of pictures of a planet is illustrated, towards which a light is directed. You
can clearly see how little the planet’s front and sides are lit using 0% contrast. The transition on this
lit surface is not very soft; this surface contrast is not natural for planets. If you look at photographs of
a planet you will see that the transition of its lit surface to its shadowed edge is hard — as illustrated
further to the right in the series of pictures. With the contrast control you can adjust how soft or hard
you wish the lit surface transition to be. If you need a special over-soft look to your objects you may
even enter negative values, as illustrated in Figure 2.
Shadow Caster
Surely you’ve experience the problem of having a perfectly lit scene in which the shadows that are cast
don’t really t in the scene visually. This is why we added “Shadow Caster”. You can use the“Shadow
Caster” option to cast shadows without adding illumination to the scene.
If you enter a negative “Intensity” value (“General” tab), the shadows will cast light instead of
shadows. Even if we don’t have an example of a practical use for this function, surely someone reading
this addendum right now is ecstatic about this feature...
Example:
On the left the scene has been lit optimally using three light sources. The cast
shadows, though, detract from the scene’s harmonious look. On the right, an
additional “Shadow Caster” light source was placed directly above the sphere
that casts a correct shadow. The shadows of the other three light sources
were manually deactivated. The scene’s lighting remains unchanged, except
for the shadows.
Area Shape
The Area light, including Area shadows, have been reworked from the ground up:
 Each light source can be given any shape
 Area lights can made visible when rendering
 Area shadows are rendered in accordance with an Area lights