Which light should be used for sunlight?

[Tales25016143nh4o]

Good afternoon. I'm having some difficulty when working with lights and mostly the Z space. Maybe I could get some help here. I've posted a screenshot of the composition I'm working in. I'm trying to simulate the sun with lights from AE. My first question is: Which light should be used? Point, Spot, Parallel? WHich falloff option?I want the mushrooms to cast shadows on the floor. I tried using parallel light. Assuming the sun is in the further than everything (except for the sky), the shadows should be pointing to the screen, right? I can't get to make the shadows on this position. Each mushroom is a different layer, with different Z values. How should I position the light to make the mushrooms cast their shadows in the right position? Another question I have is about the ground. How should I position it in Z space? Part of it should be closer tran the mushrooms and some should be further. Should I split the floor in several layers and place them with different Z values? The sky, clouds, stones, trees, ground and mushrooms are all isolated.

Thanks a lot for the support and forgive me if my English isn't clear or good, I'm from Brazil.

[Rick Gerard]

Sunlight is parallel light so that's the 100% correct solution for mimicking sunlight. You'll also need some Ambient Light because the sky fills in the shadows. Your virtual sun is behind all of the other layers so put the source back there and set the point of interest on one of the objects in the foreground.

You could also use a Point light or a spot light but it is going to have to have the falloff set to one and be a long way behind the foreground layers to keep the shadows parallel. 

If you want soft shadow edges with a parallel light source, you'll have to create a white shadow catcher set to receive shadows only and then blur the layer.

(dragging a screenshot to the reply field instead of attaching it makes it easier for use to see).