Sunlight won't pass through background

[sara_eggers]

I am an extreme vray novice and have only been using vray for a couple of weeks.

I am creating interior models in sketchup and have created a background using the true bend extension (to be seen out the window). I cannot get sunlight to pass through the background. If I hide the background, the sunlight is completely fine in my vray rendered scene. If I unhide the background, the sunlight is blocked. I have already unchecked receive shadows and cast shadows in the background's entity info, which is how I thought the problem was corrected, but this does not make any difference either way.

I would appreciate any help. I have uploaded a photo with the background and without so you can see the effect on the light/shadows.

[nikoleta.garkova]

Hi sara_eggers,

Can you let me know if you've applied a V-Ray Material to the background? Please do so (in your case, you can create a Generic material and place the background image in the diffuse slot). Once you apply that to your object, you can go to the V-Ray material's options, add the 'Raytrace Properties' parameter to your newly-created material and disable the 'Cast Shadows' option (check this gif for better visual understanding). This might just work in your case.

If it doesn't, do share a project so we can have a look and make sure we understand your setup. You can forward it via our contact form, just make sure to mention this thread (or my name) in the form subject. Thanks!

[sara_eggers]

I had set the background up as a vray material but I had not done the raytrace properties parameter. Thank you so much for an easy fix (and explained very simply for the newbie)! I really appreciate it.

[nikoleta.garkova]

Glad I could help!