Studio shadow catcher / reflection

[mikenz]

Hi All

I would like to start a new project to better learn corona for c4d and since I've been doing glass I would like to try replicate this image of a bottle! I can achieve this result in the C4D physical render (picture of bottles attached), however I am a bit stuck in Corona for setting up floor and background planes. What I (think) I need is:

-Floor and background unaffected by lights or gi; I plan to use a gradient with 'frontal mapping' on floor and background planes for a seamless transition
-Floor to have reflection but also catch any shadows or caustics (shadow catcher material in c4d?!)
-The flexibility to render pure white as a background colour

I've watched the shadow catcher & ray switch tutorials for 3ds max however I can't seem to make them work the same in C4D. If anyone has any tricks I would love to know.

Many thanks!

[4b4]

Hi Mikenz

Haven't played round with the shadowcatcher etc. but this scene is a very quick start.

[maru]

1. Floor and background unaffected by lights or gi; I plan to use a gradient with 'frontal mapping' on floor and background planes for a seamless transition
2. Floor to have reflection but also catch any shadows or caustics (shadow catcher material in c4d?!)
3. The flexibility to render pure white as a background colour

1. This can be done using several methods, but do you need to do this in C4D? Wouldn't it be easier to swap the background in some 2d app like Photoshop?
2. AFAIK there is no shadowcatcher in C4D yet, and it would be required here.
3. I don't get this one - can you explain?

[mikenz]

1. Floor and background unaffected by lights or gi; I plan to use a gradient with 'frontal mapping' on floor and background planes for a seamless transition
2. Floor to have reflection but also catch any shadows or caustics (shadow catcher material in c4d?!)
3. The flexibility to render pure white as a background colour

1. This can be done using several methods, but do you need to do this in C4D? Wouldn't it be easier to swap the background in some 2d app like Photoshop?
2. AFAIK there is no shadowcatcher in C4D yet, and it would be required here.
3. I don't get this one - can you explain?

I would like to be able to do it directly in C4D if possible - using a similar method to the 3ds max shadow catcher tutorial. I see Corona for C4D has a 'shadow catcher illuminator' setting as part of its light material so I thought shadow catching had been implemented - no wonder I was a bit lost if this is incomplete.

I would like to be able to render pure white as per my experiments using Advanced Render 3. In the scene that 4b4 posted (thanks for that!) the background is affected by the environment / lights. I would like to be able to set the floor / background colour to pure white without having to crank up the lighting and therefore affecting the other materials.

[Nejc Kilar]

@mikenz, If I get what you are trying to do then just use the background override in the Scene environment tab under Corona render settings :)