Shadows

[glorybound]

I render out a lot of passes, but to tell you the truth, I rarely use them. I want to de-saturate my shadows, and maybe saturate the lighter parts, but I can't figure out how to use my shadow pass. Do I need to crunch the white/dark shadow pass, or is there a more straight forward way? So, what I am asking, is how do I isolate just the shadows of my render in post?

[tricky]

Are you working with 32bit EXRs? If so, you should be able to get quite a long way with curves in photoshop.

[glorybound]

I didn't get anything from the shadow pass. I am using a 32bit PSD, but it wasn't of use.

[stef.thomas]

The best way to really utilise the shadow pass is if you have reconstructed the image from all your various render elements. That way you can add adjustments to the shadow pass layer independently. If you are trying to use the shadow pass in conjunction with an RGB base layer then all you can really do is darken the shadows by inverting the shadow pass and using multiply blending mode. You could also try using your GI pass set to lighten to lighten the shadow areas.

I don't know if you use magic bullet looks in either Photoshop or After Effects, but it has a ranged saturation tool that can adjust saturation separately for shadows/midtones/highlights.

[glorybound]

magic bullet looks

I had a trial, but it long stopped working, and it is so expensive.

[glorybound]

wouldn't rendering without GI work?

[dlparisi]

It sounds like you want the "matte shadow" pass rather than just straight shadows. This'll give you a matte of any shadowed areas.