In article <39F8E5BB.635DE760@hotmail.com>, Pabs <pab### [at] hotmailcom> 
wrote:
>Jerry Stratton wrote:
>> Is there any way to use "no_image" with an object but still have it
>> *accept* (not cast) shadows? Or is there some other way for an object to
>> basically be invisible except for the shadows cast on it?
>> Basically I want to be able to have the background color show through,
>> but have 'drop shadows' from objects, for use on web pages and in
>> documents.
>
>Do you mean that if a particular intersection point on the object is in
>shadow (another object between it and any light source) then that
>intersection point __is__ counted as an intersection point but if it is not
>in shadow it isn't?

I think that's what I mean. In any case, Mark's idea of making a plane 
with diffuse 1000 and the same color as the background worked for me 
(although as Mark said, if I'd wanted transparency it wouldn't have; 
fortunately, I didn't).

You can see an example of why I wanted it at 
http://www.hoboes.com/html/RPG/The%20Game/The%20Game00.jpg

or go to

http://www.hoboes.com/html/RPG/The%20Game/

and click on the PDF link or either of the two HTML links.

The pencil casts a shadow on the paper, and the shadow abruptly 
disappears when the paper ends because there is no object to "accept" a 
shadow outside of the paper. I don't want another object there... but I 
do want the pencil to cast a shadow (and the dice also, theoretically, 
but their shadows are hidden by themselves).

A plane of diffuse 1000, ambient the same as the paper seems to work 
great (it was after midnight when I got around to trying it last night, 
and I didn't want to upload without paying more attention to the image).

(Notice that there's also what appears to be a stray shadow in the scene 
coming off of "telepathic". I have no idea where that's coming from. 
There's only one light source in the scene. But where it might be 
considered a stray mark on the paper, when I put the plane in, the 
shadow hits the plane as well so I'm going to have to fix it.)

Jerry
-- 
http://www.hoboes.com/jerry/
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you've
depleted the lake."--It Isn't Murder If They're Yankees
(http://www.hoboes.com/jerry/Murder/)

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