What are ambient shadows

When ambient shadows are applied to a scene, it looks more realistic, with shadows added to corners and other dark areas of the scene. These shadows are the result of occlusion, or the blocking of objects by other objects.

When you bake (apply) ambient shadows onto a surface, they will darken the surface, regardless of which material is later applied to the surface. Because ambient shadows have this darkening effect on the look of materials, it is recommended you bake the ambient shadows before fine-tuning the look of materials.

Ambient shadows can be applied to imported mesh data, but their visual quality will be best when calculated from NURBS data.

Performance warning

Calculating ambient shadows can take a long time for a large complex model. For the most efficient workflow, experiment with a small and easily visible piece of a model to ensure that ambient shadowing provides the effect you’re looking for. Then ensure you are calculating ambient shadows on visible parts only. Calculations can be interrupted if they are taking too long, but no shadows will be applied.

Include ambient shadows in a scene

1. Select Edit > Show Normals to ensure that normals are facing outward.

   (If normals are not facing outward, unpredictable results may occur.) Check surface normals

2. To speed up the calculations, select only those parts of the model for which you want to calculate ambient shadows.

   (For example, you don’t need to create ambient shadows for bright parts of the model that don’t have crevices, holes or occluded parts. Decals and transparent objects such as glass should also be excluded to ensure they don’t occlude the surfaces underneath.)

   NoteTo create a brighter car interior, hide the roof before calculating ambient shadows.
3. Select Scene > Create Ambient Shadows.
4. The Create Ambient Shadows window appears.

   

   For most situations, the preset settings should be adequate. Use the faster shadow presets for faster calculations (but less quality); the slower presets for higher quality.

   As you refine your scene and want to lighten dark areas, you may wish to customize the settings in this window. See Advanced ambient shadows settings.

   (Select Default Settings to return to the default (recommended) settings.)

   To avoid a patchwork appearance, don’t use different settings for adjoining surfaces of your model.

5. Click Use environment floor to include the floor in the ambient shadow calculations. The undercarriage of cars, for example, will appear dark.
6. Click Create.

   The program begins calculations to create the ambient shadowing. Do not try to use the software until this process is finished.

Verify ambient shadow maps

To see the maps that create the ambient shadows:

1. Select Scene > Show Ambient Shadows Only.

   The materials disappear so that you can see which objects have ambient shadows calculated for them.

   NoteAny ambient shadows are shown as grayscale, though materials applied to the surfaces may alter the color with the “Self-shadow color” parameter. (See Color parametersfor more information.)

   

   The darker areas show where ambient shadows are strongest (for example, the wheel wells in the image above). The white areas show where they are not applied.

   NoteIf the original materials remain in the scene, there are no ambient shadows applied to any surfaces.
2. Select Scene > Show Ambient Shadows Only to see the materials again (and edit your scene).

Adjust ambient shadowing for individual surfaces

To lighten up or darken particular surfaces with ambient shadowing already applied to them:

1. Select the surfaces you want to adjust.
2. Select Scene > Adjust Ambient Shadows.

   The Adjust Ambient Shadows window appears.

   

3. Move the slider to the left to lighten the ambient shadows.

   Or, type a value larger than 100 into the field to darken the ambient shadows.

4. When you are finished, close the window.

Adjust ambient shadow color by material

Each material can override the color of the ambient shadowing that is applied to it. This can both lighten and colorize the effect of the ambient shadows by material assignment.

To set the Self-shadow color:

1. Select the object with the intended material assigned to it.
2. Press Ctrl+M (or select Material > Material Properties) to open the Material Properties window.
3. In the Color section, change the Ambient shadow color by clicking on the color swatch or adjust the overall brightness by adjusting the slider.

   

   This color filters the color and brightness of any Ambient Shadows on the object that the material is applied to. (Black = default black ambient shading, White = no ambient shading visible, Color = colored ambient shadows on top of the current material)

   For details on how to create and edit Materials, see Material property parameters.