2009

Color When on, surface color affects the color of the shadow. Default=on.
Turning off Color saves memory at rendering time.
Merge Dist. The minimum distance between two surfaces for them to be
considered distinct. If two surfaces are closer than this value, the shadow
map treats them as a single surface. When set to 0.0, the mental ray renderer
automatically calculates a distance value to use. Default=0.0 (automatic).
Larger Merge Distance values reduce memory consumption, but can reduce
shadow quality. Low Merge Distance values increase memory consumption
and slow down rendering speed.
Samp./Pixel The number of samples used to generate a pixel in the shadow
map. Higher values increase the quality and detail of the shadow, at a cost of
render time. Default=5.
If a mapped shadow appears to be
aliased on page 7904, increase the value of
Samples/Pixel. This setting is especially useful when shadows are cast by finely
detailed geometry.
Optimizations Rollout
Create panel > Lights > Create a light. > General Parameters rollout > Shadows
group > Select Advanced Ray-traced Shadows or Area Shadows. > Optimizations
rollout
The Optimizations rollout provides additional controls for
Advanced Ray-traced
Shadow
on page 8103 and Area Shadow on page 7913 generation.
See also:
General Parameters Rollout (Standard Lights) on page 5076
Shadow Parameters on page 5099
Area Shadows Rollout on page 5122
Advanced Ray-Traced Parameters Rollout on page 5118
5130 | Chapter 18 Lights and Cameras