Double shadows from one component

jhearcht

SketchUp Pro 6.4.112 on Windows XP

Some standard and custom components in my current project seem to cast double shadows. For example, with Display Shadows checked, the V_Tree_Aspen landscaping component has both a transparent shadow cast on the ground, and a solid gray shadow a few feet above the ground. Several other items also cast a solid gray shadow. I assume this is not normal, and it's certainly not desirable. Is this a bug, or am I doing something wrong?

Alan Fraser

Make sure that you haven't got your ground surface set below the origin. If you have then you will get a double shadow...once on your physical surface and again at Blue=0 (if you have the Cast shadows on ground option set)

jhearcht

Alan

My floor line is set at Blue = 0. The grassy ground surface was created by Sandbox "drawn from contours", so some areas are above zero elevation and some are below. I don't understand my the shadow can't be cast on the rolling terrain rather than the floor plane.

I have both "on faces" and "on ground" checked. Is the zero elevation plane considered a "face" even though nothing is there?

. . . . . . . . .

After some experimentation I see that "on ground" seems to refer to the ground plane. And "on faces" refers to the surface of the "earth-ground" outside the building. I was thinking just the reverse.

Thanks for the help. But, under what circumstances would you want to cast shadows on the "ground plane" instead of the "floor face"??

Alan Fraser

Well, SketchUp can be used for a wide range of visualizations and design explorations...not all of which involve the use of terrain. Why would a woodworker necessarily need to model a cabinet on a piece of floor in order to show it to a client? Nevertheless, such models can be considerably enhanced by having them cast a shadow, rather than floating in a directionless white fog.
None of the components I model entail the use of a physical floor plane.

tomsdesk

It's late so I'm probably confused...but is this what you are seeing? The grey shadow is on the ground plane, the black shadows are on the ground faces (one happens to be below the ground plane. Turning off casting on faces will mean no shadows on vertical faces as well...not to pleasant for architectural work, IMHO.