shadow catcher frustration

[arail]

I can't seem to get the shadow catcher to work and I need input as to what I'm doing wrong.
1. I put a plane under my objects
2. I create a generic material
3. I create a Matte_Shadow_Receiver material and set the base material to Generic
4. I apply the Matte_etc. material to the plane
5. nothing

I had no problem w/ V2 using the wrapper material from express tools.
If someone could take a look at my screenshot and see if there's something wrong, I'd appreciate it.

[fpedrogo]

Are you using dome light for the illumination. If yes, You will have to use the same HDRI in the environment background.

[arail]

Still no luck. I guess I'm going to revert to V2.

The disc I have under my geometry has the matte_shadow_recieiver as you can see in the upper right corner but it's not transparent at all.
I think the Environment, Background panel in V3 is confusing. Just to get a simple single color background with shadows is difficult.

[arail]

This is from Thea - 3 clicks, no multipliers, manipulators, no complicated settings, no adjustment to the lights, nothing. Just 3 clicks.

[arail]

I learned something after posting this - V-Ray seems to be sensitive to the history of a scene. What I mean is, I finished the scene and rendered it out in Thea (see above). Then I copied the geometry, dragged it to a new location, turned off the ground plane and swapped out the Thea materials for V-Ray materials. No shadow catcher.

Then I selected the geometry (that had V-Ray materials applied) and copied it into a fresh scene and the shadow catcher worked. Not sure why that would be but there it is.

[kmlkarablt]

Are you using dome light for the illumination. If yes, You will have to use the same HDRI in the environment background.

Hi Fernando,

Where am l doing wrong with the settings? I can't disappear plane complately. By the way i use hdri and i also added it to background.

[kmlkarablt]

in addition to this, i've added infinite plane to solve it but there are still shadow and color issues as you see. I hope you can help Fernando.

[kmlkarablt]

Ok i've figured it out without any issues on scene Sorry to bother.

[kmlkarablt]

Still no luck. I guess I'm going to revert to V2.

The disc I have under my geometry has the matte_shadow_recieiver as you can see in the upper right corner but it's not transparent at all.
I think the Environment, Background panel in V3 is confusing. Just to get a simple single color background with shadows is difficult.

Hi,

Let me explain how i figured it out. Maybe it helps.

Material Settings

1-Create a generic material
2-Create a wrapper material
a-Check ''matte, shadows and affect alpha''
b-Change ''Matte for secondary rays from default to -> All secondary rays (reflections and refractions)
3-Add generic material as base material of wrapper

Environment Settings ()if you add a dome light, delete it because you won't need it)

1-Add your HDRI as background image (Under Enviroment section) - ''Leave color space area under bitmap as Rendering Space (Linear)''
2-Change GI skylight as ''Sky'' under it's ''M'' section
3-Add your HDRI to Reflection too - Leave color space area under bitmap as ''Rendering Space (Linear)''
4-Open sun and set up your shadow's direction according to your HDRI's shadow position.

***if it's dark: change background and reflection sections' values from 1 to 2 or a higher value.

It worked over my scene. I hope it helps.

i've attached my final result also.