Feather shadows

[marliton]

Hi. There is some way to feather the shadows in Dimension? I'm working with the box and I want a shadow similar to the cup.

[Ussnorway · Accepted solution]

looks like the cup had a spotlight [= soft edge] behind it at the time the image was taken

yes Dimension can make a shadow like that if you build the background image to have a spotlight | glow light but i would use Photoshop to add it

p.s, there was talk of adding extra light options into the test builds so it may be worth having a look at the portal and add your vote

Custom Light Objects – Adobe Dimension Feedback Portal

[Ussnorway]

as a side note I had a go at making this with just Dimension. I'm pretty close but it took me more than two hours and 11 rendors to get it correct so I'd still use Photoshop or Blender as they would both be quicker

[davescm]

Hi

Just as in real life this is all about lighting. the soft shadow comes from using a larger light source. In it's current form, I would not use Dimension for this but would use Blender where it is very easy to set up light sources with hard or soft edges, and even use light emitted from object planes to simulate soft boxes.

Part of what you are seeing is a diffuse reflection in the table surface.

Quick and dirty in Blender:

Dave

[marliton]

Great result. But as you said, should be faster in Photoshop. Thanks!

[marliton]

Did you use a custom Image Base Light to get that result?

[Ussnorway]

sorry I would have posted the file last night but Adobe server is having sync issues again

this is my Dimension library with all the free assets from Adobe stock... the cup I used is from that

this is the Dimension file I built last night

the image you started with has 3 lights & yes the shadow at the base is the "sun" light but it will only work if you break it up against something with texture... as Dave points out it is part reflection so without the 'wood' grain I added to mine the shadow will be sharp

Dave put his two small lights to the side so the X isn't there and I made my top lights as globes instead of strip lights so I get 2 spots which I would repair by rebuilding the lights if this was a paid job

[marliton]

Ussnorway​ and davescm. I'm teaching a Dimension course and I just was wondering if is possible to create soft shadows. Now is clear now for me, it's easier to finish the file in Ps. Thanks a lot for your help!

[davescm]

As I said earlier don't just look at the shadow for that image. Some of what you see is a diffuse reflection of the background and cup on the wood surface. I used a non metallic material with a low roughness value. The roughness is low enough to get some soft shine but don't take the roughness too low or you get a hard reflection.

You can set up multiple lights in Photoshop but be aware the material system is different to Dimension and does not use a PBR metallic workflow so you will need to set up the materials differently.

Dave

[marliton]

I like how you dissect and explain the image. Thanks for you help.

[Ussnorway]

marliton  wrote

I'm teaching a Dimension course

Kool if they have the library and are allowed to rendor online it will be fast an easy to make a psd then just edit the shadows in Photoshop

Ryzen is best but online is also very good

I3 - not too bad

Mac or I5 = I pitty them

[Ares Hovhannesyan]

There is also one possibility to set focus point on shadow and change Blur Amount but it not works perfect. May be you can work with properties of the button object material for achieving these effect: like roughness and glow. But as Ussnorway​ mention you can use Photoshop after rendering