Shadow catcher node
EDIT : As of Blender 3.0, the shadow catcher being so greatly improved, the proposed color parameter may not make sense anymore. The intensity is still relevant though.
A shader node for the shadow catcher would allow to mix it with other shaders rather than apply it to an entire object.
The way I see it, it would need a shader input because it uses the existing material to bounce indirect light rays as well as process the shadow itself.
It could also have inputs for the shadow intensity and color to give more control.
13 Comments
Even more importantly this would allow us to do things like use the "Light path," node in order to setup complex effects with glass and such for compositing. I agree that this is definitely a better alternative than just having it affect the whole object
* @Zach Hixson * When it comes to the light path, there are object-wide settings to enable/disable camera and indirect light paths for each type of light (diffuse, glossy, etc...). Not as advanced as the node though. In my use case, mixing with textures is more important.
OMG WE NEED THIS SOOOOO MUCH!!!
is this real? cz I can't find it in 2.82a is it in 2.83?
* @aliyoubff * It's a feature proposal, that's what this website is all about.
* @-L0Lock- * well it would be amazing to tweak shadows so awesome idea.
It'd be nice to also have a color slider for obvious reasons as well as a sharpness slider that would not affect shadow when set to a default value of say 0.5 . And would blur/sharpen the shadow (somewhat ignoring scene lights) when increasing or decreasing the value past default
* @Yegor R * Good idea. I added the color. However, I don't think a shadow radius would belong here. If a "Radius Override" were to be implemented into the Shader Editor, it should be its own node so that you could use it with any other shader (Diffuse, Principled, etc...).
That said, it seems to me that this would be a niche feature. If you're unsatisfied with the shadow radius, wouldn't changing the light source's size suffice in 99% of situations? Anyway, feel free to post your proposal on it and see how many votes you get.
* @Caetano Veyssières * I agree with this
But not really with the second part. As (may be I just don't know) there isn't a proper easy way to exclude/include objects to be lit by a light source. I repeat, not materials. I know we can turn off light visibility for glossy/diffuse etc. So changing the light source to have a different shadow on/from a certain object would affect unwanted objects.
* @Yegor R * Are you talking about light linking? This is an old request, as Maya & 3Dsmax have had it since their early days. An implementation in Blender has been started then abandoned a few years ago. However, another task was added last year . That said, it's just a task, which means there may not be anyone actually working on it at the moment. It seems to require a lot of code revamping and compromise-making for performance.
Anyway, it's a different feature than the one I proposed here but there have been several proposals for light linking here on RCS:
(there are probably more)
There's something about looking at the shader in and shader out on the node that makes me want to scream, "what's in the box?!" That said, and elegant node like this can make compositing cg onto live action much, much easier.
* @daviddlfon * Maybe a "Shadow intensity" slider would make it clearer what's in the box as well as add more control.
* @daviddlfon * I edited the post accordingly.