Shadow Catcher Material
Captures shadows and generates a diffuse alpha blended material.
Shadow Catcher Material
Method #
The shadow catcher node captures shadow information from lights cast on to the surface of an object that has the shadow catcher material applied to it.
The captured shadow information can then be rendered separately onto surfaces of a scene using the layers composite blend modes alpha channels. This will give you the ability to render shadows onto objects not in the scene - for instance on real-world objects or floors in AR projects.
The output material can be applied to any node which accepts a material input, such as 3D Objects, Particle Trails, or a Procedural Raytracer.
The shadow catcher node is great for adding shadows onto surfaces for AR projects.
Parameters
These properties control the core behaviours of the material using Physically Based Rendering (PBR) properties from a A Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution function. Changing the properties below can make a material appear more reflective, more dirty, or add more detail to the material surface. By using textures (either through the relevant inputs, or in the texture section), each of these properties can be modulated over a surface, for more complex material effects.
Parameter Details Shadow Catcher Colour The colour of the shadows.
Baked Diffuse Intensity The intensity of the diffuse texture.
Use Baked Diffuse Map As Ambient Occlusion Sets the diffuse map as an ambient occlusion map.
These properties control the rendering settings for the material.
Parameter Details Lit Toggle whether the material can be lit by lights in the scene.
Casts Shadows Toggle whether the objects the material is applied to casts shadows.
Unseen By Camera Toggle whether can be seen by the camera.
Back Face Cull Mode Changes which directions the face will be visible in.
- Double Sided : Both sides of the material will be rendered to the surface.
- Show Front Faces : Only the front side aligned with the normal will be rendered.
- Show Back Faces : Only the back side opposite to the normal will be rendered.
Flip Polygons Toggles whether the polygons are flipped on the material.
Wireframe Toggles whether the polygons are wireframe on the material.
Thes properties comntrol how the surface of the material is displaced at rendereing, using normal maps, heightmaps, or both.
Parameter Details Normal Smoothness Change how much smoothing is done to the edges of the object.
Smoothing Angle Sets the smoothing angle of the mesh faces. The higher the smoother the result.
Normal Map Strength Change how strong the normal map effect is. Only functions if a normal map is selected in the “normal map” attribute, and the normal map mode is set to “normal mapping”.
Normal Map Mode Change how the normal map affects the material.
Normal Map - Invert Normal X Invert the normal map along the X axis.
Normal Map - Invert Normal Y Invert the normal map along the Y axis.
Normal Map - Invert Normal Z Invert the normal map along the Z axis.
Displacement How Much the displacement map affects the object.
Displacement Offset Offset displacement amount for the displacement maps.
Parallax Amount Enables Parallax Occlusion Mapping, and sets how much the material is displaced by it.
Displacement - Use Polygons UVs Uses the Polygon UV’s to fix seams where the UV Map can wrap.
Displacement - Fix Tessellation Seams Can fix tessellation seams where displacement maps are sampled per vertex and can wrap across polygons.
These properties allow textures to modulate the surfaces. Textures connected to the maaterials relevant input properties will overwrite these textures.
Parameter Details Diffuse Map Select a source image to add a diffuse map to the material.
Displacement Map Select an image to displace the mesh based on the luminescence values of the image. Can be used with the Subdivision Levels node.
Alpha Map Select an image to control the alpha values of different areas of the material, based on luminance.
These properties control how the material applies to the mesh UVs.
Parameter Details UV Scale X Scale the UV texture along the X axis.
UV Scale Y Scale the UV texture along the Y axis.
UV Offset X Offset the UV texture along the X axis.
UV Offset Y Offset the UV texture along the Y axis.
Diffuse UV Scale X Scale the Diffuse UV texture along the X axis.
Diffuse UV Scale Y Scale the Diffuse UV texture along the Y axis.
Diffuse UV Offset X Offset the Diffuse UV texture along the X axis.
Diffuse UV Offset Y Offset the Diffuse UV texture along the Y axis.
Texture Filter Mode Controls how textures used by the material are filtered - through point sampling, linear filtering or anisotropic filtering.
Texture Wrap Mode U Controls how textures used by the material are wrapped when the U value range exceeds 0 to 1.
Texture Wrap Mode V Controls how textures used by the material are wrapped when the V value range exceeds 0 to 1.
Diffuse Texture Filter Mode Controls how textures used by the material are filtered - through point sampling, linear filtering or anisotropic filtering.
Diffuse Texture Wrap Mode U Controls how textures used by the material are wrapped when the U value range exceeds 0 to 1.
Diffuse Texture Wrap Mode V Controls how textures used by the material are wrapped when the V value range exceeds 0 to 1.
UV Remap Filtering Enables filtering for remapping UV’s. Only functions with eligible textures.
Texture Mip Bias Bias the distance at which Mip Maps are swapped for original textures.
These properties control a couple extra settings for the material which didn’t fit into other categories.
Parameter Details Motion Blur Velocity Scale Scale how much motion blur is affected by the object’s movement.
Glow Amount Control how much the object glows.
Density How dense the material is. Used in sub-surface scattering, and glass shading.
These properties control how the material interacts with ray tracing, when used by a Rendering Node.
Parameter Details Use Global Settings Use the settings set in a Rendering Node over these internal settings.
Max Diffuse Depth Sets the max diffuse bounces for the material.
Max Glossy Depth Sets the max glossy bounces for the material.
Max Refraction Depth Sets the max refraction bounces for the material.
These properties allow you to control how vertex colours are applied to meshes, and to other parts of the PBR pipeline.
These properties control the core behaviours of the material using Physically Based Rendering (PBR) properties from a A Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution function. Changing the properties below can make a material appear more reflective, more dirty, or add more detail to the material surface. By using textures (either through the relevant inputs, or in the texture section), each of these properties can be modulated over a surface, for more complex material effects.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Shadow Catcher Colour | The colour of the shadows. |
| Baked Diffuse Intensity | The intensity of the diffuse texture. |
| Use Baked Diffuse Map As Ambient Occlusion | Sets the diffuse map as an ambient occlusion map. |
These properties control the rendering settings for the material.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Lit | Toggle whether the material can be lit by lights in the scene. |
| Casts Shadows | Toggle whether the objects the material is applied to casts shadows. |
| Unseen By Camera | Toggle whether can be seen by the camera. |
| Back Face Cull Mode | Changes which directions the face will be visible in.
|
| Flip Polygons | Toggles whether the polygons are flipped on the material. |
| Wireframe | Toggles whether the polygons are wireframe on the material. |
Thes properties comntrol how the surface of the material is displaced at rendereing, using normal maps, heightmaps, or both.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Normal Smoothness | Change how much smoothing is done to the edges of the object. |
| Smoothing Angle | Sets the smoothing angle of the mesh faces. The higher the smoother the result. |
| Normal Map Strength | Change how strong the normal map effect is. Only functions if a normal map is selected in the “normal map” attribute, and the normal map mode is set to “normal mapping”. |
| Normal Map Mode | Change how the normal map affects the material. |
| Normal Map - Invert Normal X | Invert the normal map along the X axis. |
| Normal Map - Invert Normal Y | Invert the normal map along the Y axis. |
| Normal Map - Invert Normal Z | Invert the normal map along the Z axis. |
| Displacement | How Much the displacement map affects the object. |
| Displacement Offset | Offset displacement amount for the displacement maps. |
| Parallax Amount | Enables Parallax Occlusion Mapping, and sets how much the material is displaced by it. |
| Displacement - Use Polygons UVs | Uses the Polygon UV’s to fix seams where the UV Map can wrap. |
| Displacement - Fix Tessellation Seams | Can fix tessellation seams where displacement maps are sampled per vertex and can wrap across polygons. |
These properties allow textures to modulate the surfaces. Textures connected to the maaterials relevant input properties will overwrite these textures.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Diffuse Map | Select a source image to add a diffuse map to the material. |
| Displacement Map | Select an image to displace the mesh based on the luminescence values of the image. Can be used with the Subdivision Levels node. |
| Alpha Map | Select an image to control the alpha values of different areas of the material, based on luminance. |
These properties control how the material applies to the mesh UVs.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| UV Scale X | Scale the UV texture along the X axis. |
| UV Scale Y | Scale the UV texture along the Y axis. |
| UV Offset X | Offset the UV texture along the X axis. |
| UV Offset Y | Offset the UV texture along the Y axis. |
| Diffuse UV Scale X | Scale the Diffuse UV texture along the X axis. |
| Diffuse UV Scale Y | Scale the Diffuse UV texture along the Y axis. |
| Diffuse UV Offset X | Offset the Diffuse UV texture along the X axis. |
| Diffuse UV Offset Y | Offset the Diffuse UV texture along the Y axis. |
| Texture Filter Mode | Controls how textures used by the material are filtered - through point sampling, linear filtering or anisotropic filtering. |
| Texture Wrap Mode U | Controls how textures used by the material are wrapped when the U value range exceeds 0 to 1. |
| Texture Wrap Mode V | Controls how textures used by the material are wrapped when the V value range exceeds 0 to 1. |
| Diffuse Texture Filter Mode | Controls how textures used by the material are filtered - through point sampling, linear filtering or anisotropic filtering. |
| Diffuse Texture Wrap Mode U | Controls how textures used by the material are wrapped when the U value range exceeds 0 to 1. |
| Diffuse Texture Wrap Mode V | Controls how textures used by the material are wrapped when the V value range exceeds 0 to 1. |
| UV Remap Filtering | Enables filtering for remapping UV’s. Only functions with eligible textures. |
| Texture Mip Bias | Bias the distance at which Mip Maps are swapped for original textures. |
These properties control a couple extra settings for the material which didn’t fit into other categories.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Motion Blur Velocity Scale | Scale how much motion blur is affected by the object’s movement. |
| Glow Amount | Control how much the object glows. |
| Density | How dense the material is. Used in sub-surface scattering, and glass shading. |
These properties control how the material interacts with ray tracing, when used by a Rendering Node.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Use Global Settings | Use the settings set in a Rendering Node over these internal settings. |
| Max Diffuse Depth | Sets the max diffuse bounces for the material. |
| Max Glossy Depth | Sets the max glossy bounces for the material. |
| Max Refraction Depth | Sets the max refraction bounces for the material. |
These properties allow you to control how vertex colours are applied to meshes, and to other parts of the PBR pipeline.
