Make an object only cast shadows on itself?

[Dave Buckley]

As the title says, what's the best way (if possible) to have an object only cast shadows on itself?

 

It's a tree.

 

I have a non-renderable tree casting the shadows. But I want a different tree visible in reflections. If I turn off 'Cast Shadows' on the reflecting tree, then there are no shadows inbetween all the leaves and it looks odd in the reflection.

[Francisco Penaloza]

That's pretty strange request.. what are you trying to achieve?

one quick though could be to use one light only to lit that tree (the one with shadows on it self) and exclude everything else but that tree.

 

There is no way to select where the shadows affect, just lights have the option of excluding. I guess is the same but thinking backwards

[Dave Buckley]

Well funnily enough thats exactly what I've done. Just created a new light, including only that tree. And excluded it from the other light.

 

Basically the tree is quite dense. If it casts shadows onto the floor i just get a huge mass of shadow, but looks great in reflections. I want a nice dappled shadow. I've got a different tree (only casting shadows) in position that created the nice dappled shadow. But, if you turn off cast shadows on the dense tree, then it looks terrible and flat in the reflection. So I basically need the dense tree in the reflection to have shadows but not cast shadows onto anything else. All clear. Good haha. It's working now anyway - just one extra light, no big deal. And it's only for one shot.

[Francisco Penaloza]

I get it now, well glade is working for you

[Dave Buckley]

You don't actually see the tree in the render, only in the reflection, so it doesn't look strange - I promise.

[Francisco Penaloza]

ha ha, hey no judging, I am doing transparent trees right now, per Architect request ...