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3DS: Rendering alpha bkg w/ shadows?

by Chris "Tricky" Cowherd · in Torque Game Builder · 10/04/2006 (9:43 pm) · 6 replies

I just got the Torque Adventure Kit for TGB. They have sprites rendered from the TGE Orc character.

The orc is rendered with a transparent alpha channel background but with a semi-transparent shadow as well.

Does anyone know how to do that with 3DS? I know how to render the background as a transparent alpha but how do you get the shadow since there is nothing to cast it on?

Is there a way to create a plane for the shadows to be cast on but have it render completely tranparent?
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Torque 3D Owner Chris French
#1
10/05/2006 (10:58 am)
Yes, there is. I did it years ago when i was messing around with 3dsmax. You may want to check 3dsmax forums, as I do recall it being fairly simple (shouldn't be hard to find a quick tutorial). Sorry I can't help more than that, I haven't touched 3dsmax in roughly 6 years and I was never that proficient with it either... but I do know that there is an easy(built in) way to do what you are asking.

Specifically I remember doing a tutorial for a 3d jet passing over water from a 2d image (skybox or background image) and setting up the shadow accepting plain to make the render more believable.

Associate Tom Eastman (Eastbeast314)
#2
10/05/2006 (11:19 am)
I haven't tried it, but you could try changing the plane's properties so that it is not Renderable. I know that's an option. Not sure if the shadow will end up being somewhat transparent though.

Torque Owner Joe Rossi
Indri Games
#3
10/05/2006 (2:31 pm)
Or if you're like me and can't afford 3DSMAX you can draw it using a raytracer ;) I like PovRay...

Torque Owner Magnus Blikstad
#4
10/05/2006 (3:27 pm)
Look up the matte/shadow material in your 3d studio manual.

Torque Owner Chris "Tricky" Cowherd
#5
10/06/2006 (6:10 pm)
@Mangus - yes, that's what I was looking for. Thanks!

Associate Russell Fincher
Sickhead Games
#6
10/09/2006 (3:34 pm)
I've got to admit that for the Adventure Kit I did this the long way around... rendered the Orcs at a 45-degree angle and top-down and used the top-down render for the shadow. Automation within Photoshop helped me stick it all together fairly easy, and keep the shadows on a separate layer so I could tweak the transparency to get it right.