Sharp shadows loss when using GI

[saadhoualla]

Im working on a scene where i should have sharp shadows coming from shutters (classic film noir shot).

The shadows look sharp and well defined when i turn realistic view in my viewport, but they get extremely blurred out when i render with gi turned on (i guess the lights and shadows are being mixed together to the point that the shadows that look sharp in the viewport have completely disappeared during rendering)

 

I'm using a vray plane light (dont want a vray sun for this specific shot), tried changing the distance of the light source from the actual shutters, tried changing the size of the source etc. ...

 

Any ideas on how to preserve the 'sharpness' of a SPECIFIC shadow while rendering with GI? If not, is there a workaround in post (for example exporting a sharp shadow map that i can control in photoshop?)

 

Thanks a bunch

NB:

Working with 3ds max/vray

[Corey Beaulieu]

Make your light really small. Small lights create sharp shadows, big lights create blurred/gradient/soft shadows.

[pablovergara]

I think you need to study a little on lighting in photography.

What is the light source supposed to be? As in.. Behind the blinds you're saying your light has to go through, is it the sun? Light bulbs?. That should determine the type of light you use in max.

 

Rule of thumb:

the larger the light source, the softer the shadows.

The closer the light source to your subject, the softer the shadows.

 

 

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[pablovergara]

All GI does is calculate the light bounces with your geometry, it doesn't really 'soften' the shadows, that is determined by what I said earlier.

The viewport's shadows are just a reference, and you should not consider them as way to describe what the rendered shadows would actually look.

 

 

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[saadhoualla]

Yeah :/ thing is i have tried changing the plane's size to 1cmx1cm, didn't really work, i still have super blurry shadows

[pablovergara]

Hmm that's pretty weird. Are there any other lights in your scene? What about environment ?

You could post some screenshots or a sample scene to help you

 

 

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[landrvr1]

This may be a crazy question, but where in the scene are you expecting the crisp shadows to happen? On the floor - perhaps 5 feet away from the closest shutter? Are you getting crisp shadows if you place a temporary plane or box right next to the shutters? Literally inches away? Expecting crisp shadows several feet away from the object that's being illuminated is asking a lot. You would need a very small and extremely bright light source to get crisp shadows at that distance from the object. Just some thoughts....