Shadow

In iClone all the lights (Directional light, Spotlight) generate shadow except the Point Light.

Shadow Type

In the Shadow Type drop down list, you may decide to turn the shadow effect to None/Self-Cast Shadow/Drop Shadow/Wall Shadow:

None	Self-Cast Shadow (Directional Light)	Self-Cast Shadow (Spotlight)
The Shadow is turned off.	The Shadow is turned on with directional light.	A realistic way to calculate the physical projection of shadows from the light source via the shadow map technology. Cast and receive shadows both from characters and props/scene. Shadows can be cast to the source's own surface as well.

Drop Shadow	Wall Shadow
A quick way for characters to drop shadow Only on the virtual floor (X-Y plane) or 2D background.	Wall Shadow shows an offset shadow directly behind the character creating a 2D shadow effect. If you select this option, the Offset X, Y will be enabled for you to define the position of the shadow. Please notice that the Wall Shadow casts merely on the 2D Background and Sky but not on the Terrain.

More about Self-cast Shadow

• Spotlight cast best self-cast shadow because of restricted effect range, keep the best shadow map resolution.

• The stronger light may cast higher opacity shadow, especially the directional light.

• Higher resolution shadow map is required if you wish that all scene elements to cast shadows.

• Self-cast shadow can only be projected on 3D objects but not on the virtual floor (X-Y plane) or 2D space.

• If self-cast shadow casts on objects with alpha transparency effect, it might cause some artifacts.

Shadow Opacity

Adjust the Opacity value may define the transparency of the shadow. Basically, the stronger light casts higher opacity shadow, especially the  directional light

Opacity = 60	Opacity = 100

Blur

Check the Blur box to enable this feature. Adjust the Blur Level value may define the softness at the edge of the shadow.

Blur Level = 1	Blur Level= 10

Shadow map resolution

Large scene takes larger size shadow map to make the self-cast shadow with higher resolution. However, it takes more resource of your system as well.

Resolution = 512 x 512	Resolution = 4096 x 4096

Shadow Bias Adjustment

This function helps to correct some shadow displacement caused by extreme shadow angle.

Bias = 1	Bias = -3

* iClone Self-cast Shadow function supports NVIDIA series graphics card only