Difficulty with Video #8 in "Introduction to Lighting in 3ds Max"

[JamesWarren]

I am having trouble getting the same results as video #8 in the Introduction to Lighting in 3ds Max series. In this lesson, the instructor shows how to make more diffused shadows by using a photometric light with advanced ray traced shadows. The light emits from a shperical shape, and under Optimizations in the light's modify panel, Transparent shadows is set to On.

I have followed the video very closely a few times and my shadows still do not have the same results, or the same long render time as in the video.

I am using 3ds Max 2012, and I noticed the the video uses 3ds Max 2010, is there some difference between versions that may be causing this? Is there something that I am doing wrong?


7803

[green]

Hello James,
When trying to achieve soft shadows using the Advanced Raytrace Shadows, you may need to increase the "Shadow Spread" and the "Shadow Quality/Integrity" (both are found in the light's "Adv. Ray Traced Params" rollout).

Try taking the Shadow Spread up to around 10 to really blur your shadows. Then slowly raise your Shadow Quality/Integrity values until any shadow artifacts have been removed from your render.

Good luck, hope this helps

[JamesWarren]

Thanks for your response, changing the spread does give a diffused result on the cast shadows. It does seem, however, that in the video changing the shape of the light to a sphere diffuses the cast shadows, regardless of the spread settings.

I'm still not sure why my setup is different than the video. My guess is that 3ds Max 2012 renders advanced ray traced shadows differently than the version in the video. Either that or there is some issue with the way it is set up on my computer.

In the end I'm not too worried about the results I get with the scanline render anyways, since I could get better results with other renderers.

[MarkB]

I am having the same problem following along with lesson 8 Introduction to Lighting in 3ds Max as posted by James. I am seeing a softening of shadows in the viewport, however there is no shadow softening in the render. I am using a photometric target shpere with advanced ray trace and all the same settings as shown in the video, but not getting the same result. Changing the quality, integrity, shadow spread, jitter parameters also have no effect in the render. Is there something we are missing?
I am using 3ds Max Design 2012