Shadow Help!!

[balow34]

Hi everyone,

I'm very new to the Piranesi world and unfortunately am dealing with trying to finish some spiffy graduate images for my Thesis with very little time left.

I have creating my 3d model using DataCAD and then imported it into Sketchup 6.0 to create the images I need to use for my presentation. Lastly, I wanted to apply some rendering techniques using Piranesi. I have watched several tutorials and can not figure out how to properly apply shadows so that the components (i.e. people) will have the same shadow line as the sun from my model.

When I insert the person on the image their shadow is true to life, however it does not match the angle of my sun from Sketchup. Using the "Pick" tool I try to modify the direction that my shadow should be cast. However, after I hit "Update All" and refresh the image the shadow that is cast is grossly oversized. It is very and extremely long for some reason!! I have no idea how simply picking the direction of the shadow would all of a sudden cause this problem!!

Is there something else I am not doing correctly? Have other people had this problem? Please help!!

Thanks.

[Arvan]

If you post an image showing the faulty shadows that might make it easier to tell what's happening.

My best guess from the description is that you may be picking the direction you want the shadows to lie on the ground rather than the direction the light is shining.

You should drag from a point on the geometry to the corresponding place on its shadow. For example from the top of a column to the end of the shadow. If you drag from the foot of the column along the shadow you are effectively saying the light is shining straight along the ground so the shadows will be infinitely long.

Hope that helps, if not do post a picture for us to look at.

Arvan

[balow34]

Of course...you are correct. I had been telling the image that the sun was simply along the ground plane and NOT at an angle as it truly would be. Effectively, I WAS selecting only the ground plane and NOT the top of the column as you suggested.

Thank you very much for your help!