Object shadow and relfections on alpha

[chemicalpete]

Hi Everybody!

What I want on the image is the object, it's shadow and reflection on the floor, with a transparent background.

I am really frustrated. I am trying to generate a series of objects and 3d letters for our presentation asset library. I am trying to create objects that have a shadow and a falloff reflection (as on a shiny floor) that I can save as PNGs for use on several different backgrounds. I have tried Matte/Shadow in Max and several different shaders in Maya to no avail? I have tried rendering elements, and re-compositing them, but it doesn't quite do what I want? Am I doing something wrong, or is this simple request a very complicated process.

Thank you all for your time and input!
ChemicalPete~

[danlefeb]

Apply a Use Background shader to your floor.

[chemicalpete]

Huh... I must have missed that one. I will take a look! Thanks man!!!

[chemicalpete]

Hey Dan, I am having a bit of trouble getting the reflection to actually fade off on the alpha. All I get are two 100% silouettes of the object on the alpha. I know that I can fake reflections (falling off to transparent) in Photoshop, but it would be so much greater to be able to do everything in 3d. Any ideas?
Thank you for your time!
Pete~

[danlefeb]

If you want to blur your reflection to get that "fade off" effect, open up the attribute editor on your Use Background shader and in the mental ray tab, play with the "Reflection Blur" and "Reflection Rays" options. If you wanted to, you could plug a ramp node into the reflection blur and control it that way. Depends on what sort of reflection you want, I guess :)