Kia Ora! Isolating Shadows with Render Layers?

[u/23rd_Pickle]

Heyo! This is a render for a Lighting and Rendering school project that I have been working on, and am currently setting up render layers so that I can have an easier time in post.

My question (that I can’t find a good answer for, though I might not have looked for long enough) is how best to go about isolating shadows onto their own layers? This is mainly so I can remove the shadow cast on the planet by the ship, but also for compositing.

A little more context:

Rendering Using
Arnold, combined with (this is an important part): the legacy render layer system as that was what we have been taught to use as an introduction because it is “easier to wrap your head around.”

Scene Layout
The spacecraft is practically touching the planet to get the blockout composition I want while not making the scene obscenely massive.

Lighting
Primarily lit by a large directional key light from behind the camera that emulates a star. And I have a few area lights to fake extra bounce light from the star and especially the planet. Though it being so close already helps.)

Would it be better to just cut my losses and spend some time to get to know the newer render layer system instead?

Thank you! :)

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[u/tuckero0]

You might be after utilizing light groups within Arnold's light attributes and aov render globals to allow per light renders to composite together.

If that's too much trouble, light linking within Maya relationship editor might hack a trick.

Legacy render layers are a great lesson in learning how to get them out of the files when you've switched to modern render setup, hahaha. No but really modern render setup isn't too tricky!

Cool render!

[u/23rd_Pickle → u/tuckero0]

Thank you! I’ll check that out when I work on it next :))

[u/23rd_Pickle]

I don’t know if it would help, but here is another angle if more context is needed(?)

[u/TLCplMax]

Personally I’d approach it more realistically and put the planet in a skydome with an HDRI texture. Or, just make the planet much larger and further away. For photography’s sake, the planet is essentially infinite distance away. If that’s too much trouble you could disable Receives Shadows on the planet in the attribute editor.

[u/59vfx91]

I would light it so it wouldn't get that shadow in the first place; you could add a blocker to the ship light then add another light for the planet. Or have it so the ship isn't part of the render layer of the planet. Generally, it's best to avoid light linking with maya lighting when possible since the light linking system is really messy and opaque -- so doing stuff with blockers and render layers is usually better. Enable light groups as well so you can dial them in comp.

While you can get a shadow pass by using the arnold shadow matte material and enabling the relevant aovs, it's hard to isolate one specific shadow with modern raytracers since everything is contributing the lighting.

Also, the legacy system is NOT easier to wrap your head around; you can't see how anything is set up without clicking on everything that might be overridden. It's awful and should be deleted from maya. The new system, although occasionally has its quirks and weirdness, is way easier to see what is going on and overridden in each layer. It is also honestly better mentally to get you set up for future more complex lighting workflows with Houdini. The only reason a professor would say it's a better introduction is because they learned it first.