Solving
Shadow Problems
Depth
Map Shadows
Shadows in Fog
Raytraced Shadows
Shadows appear jagged or pixelated:
Turn off "Casts Shadows" in the render stat attributes
for any objects (especially large objects) in the scene that do not need
to cast shadows (they can still receive shadows).
Increase Dmap Resolution (to the lowest
value that produces acceptable results) for the shadow casting light.
Increase Dmap Filter Size (to the
lowest value that produces acceptable results) for the shadow casting
light (this will make shadow edges softer).
Spot lights: Decreasing the cone angle will increase the apparent resolution
of the depth map.
Directional lights:
Turn on Use
Light Position and objects behind the light will not be taken
into account.
If the above do not give desired results, you can manually adjust the
region that the light will take into account for calculating its depth
map:
Turn off Use Dmap Auto Focus, and set Dmap Focus so all objects that you want to cast shadows do indeed cast shadows for all frames of the animation. Spot and Point lights use a cone angle for the focus setting, and Directional lights use a width setting.
Increase Dmap Bias by a small amount (or check if Use Mid Dist Dmap is turned off and turn it on).
Shadows are segmented or incomplete:
Decrease Dmap Bias by a small amount.
Grainy
shadow patterns:
Increase Fog Shadow Samples (to
the lowest value that produces acceptable results) for the shadow casting
light. This can become more apparent when increasing Fog
Shadow Intensity.
Decrease Light Radius (point lights or spot lights) or Light Angle (directional lights) for the shadow casting light. This will also make shadow edges sharper.
or
Increase Shadow Rays (to the lowest value that produces acceptable results) for the shadow casting light.