ShadowAPI

Use ShadowAPI to control shadow behavior, such as shadow color, distance, and falloff. These are non-physical controls that ignore certain laws of physics used for lighting calculations. Use these controls for scenarios where you need artistic control over how shadows are rendered.

See Shadows for more examples of using ShadowAPI.

Properties

inputs:shadow:color

USD type: color3f

Fallback value: (0, 0, 0)

Sets the color of the shadows cast by the light.

inputs:shadow:distance

USD type: float

Fallback value: -1.0

Sets the maximum distance between occluder and shadow-receiving surface within which shadows will be cast. The fallback value is -1, which indicates no limit.

inputs:shadow:enable

USD type: bool

Fallback value: True

Controls whether the prim with this schema applied will cast shadows during lighting calculations. For more fine-grained control on which geometry will have shadows for this light, use light-linking.

inputs:shadow:falloff

USD type: float

Fallback value: -1.0

Sets the size of the shadow falloff. This can be used to hide or adjust the hard cut-off for shadows at the maximum shadow distance. The falloff zone is the area that fades from full shadow at the beginning of the falloff zone, to no shadow at the maximum shadow distance.

The falloff zone cannot exceed the maximum shadow distance. A falloff zone value equal to or less than 0.0 indicates no falloff zone.

inputs:shadow:falloffGamma

USD type: float

Fallback value: 1.0

Use falloffGamma to control the rate of shadow falloff within the shadow fallout zone. The value is treated as a gamma (exponential) control of shadow strength with linear distance within the falloff zone. Proper use of falloffGamma requires appropriately setting shadow:distance and shadow:falloff.