SHADOW render element/ mental ray

[TomD_Arch]

Can someone please explain the mystery of how to get this 'SHADOW' render element to work? All I ever get is a black image. I got it to work once where it came out looking nice and gradient similar in style to say the AO, or Z-depth, but I no longer have access to the file to go back and investigate. I have never been able to get that output to occur again on any other renderings.

[TomD_Arch]

Solved it myself, was able to find a copy of my old file that I did it in. I'll post my solution in case others are looking for this info. Sorry if this is basic stuff.

 

1. Make sure you have the SHADOWS render element added to your output list. I left Filtering turned off.

2. Save your rendered output as you would other render elements. OPENexr is probably the one almost all would suggest. I used a .trg also and that worked fine.

3. Open your SHADOW render element output file in Photoshop.

4. Go to the CHANNELS tab. The last layer there will be your shadow data. It will be listed as ALPHA 1.

5. Copy the layer (CTRL+A then CTRL+C) and paste into a new layer on the CHANNELS tab of your post-production Photoshop file. Similar you can drag the SHADOW alpha layer from one open file to another in Photoshop. It will create a new alpha channel named ALPHA X, X being the next available number based on what alpha channels you already have.

6. Use as you see fit