To produce realistic raytraced shadows for area lights
- Only available through raytracing. Make sure to turn on in the window for Maya software rendering, then turn on in the area light's . The size and orientation of the light controls the shadow color distribution.
Note
You may have to increase the number of sample rays to ensure high quality shadows. This can be time- and processor-intensive.
Depth map shadows also work, but you create shadows varying from hard to soft. Adjust the filter size to control the uniform
softness of the shadow.