Shadow on ground doesn't apperar in render

[Anonymous]

I recently upgraded from Architecture 2015 to 2017. I'm working on a sun study. In model space the shadows are visible, but when I render the model, the shadows on ground won't appear. The same file used to work fine in 2015 on the same PC. I've tried rendering it online and there it turns out the way it's supposed to look like it is (low resolution image). I think there is nothing wrong with the model, but there must a command or setting in the software that needs to be changed.  I've run out of ideas and need help to figure out what could  be done.

Any advice is appreciated.

Patrick

Hi!

[Victoria.Studley]

Hi @Anonymous,

Welcome to the Autodesk Community, and thank you for posting your question here. It's been a few weeks, so I apologize for the delayed response.

AutoCAD 2016 and later version use a new render engine, which is why the results you're seeing differ from AutoCAD 2015.

The lack of ground shadows is a known limitation of the new engine: Ground shadows do not display against IBL background image in AutoCAD

However, it looks like you may have a physical object in the file acting as your "ground", so it should cast and receive shadows. It looks like it does receive some shadows, but not in the same way you were seeing in the old engine, or that you see in the cloud rendering.

Without seeing the DWG file and its render settings, it's difficult to make a recommendation. Could you post the sample file? I'll be happy to take a look.

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I've attached the file. If you're able to find a solution that would be great!

Patrick

[Victoria.Studley]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thank you for posting your file. The shadows do appear to be casting according to the location, date, time, and sun direction.

The difference you're seeing is due to the render engine switch that occurred in AutoCAD 2016. If you adjust the date and time in the sun settings, and run a couple of different test renders, you see the shadows move accordingly.

Here is some additional information about the differences between the old and new render engine, which should help you make the adjustments you need to acclimate to the new engine.

If it doesn't get you the results you're looking for, I recommend trying the cloud rendering service, since you said it rendered the shadows closer to what you were looking for.

[Anonymous]

Hi!

Thanks for trying. I've read the information posted in the link, however none of it solves the problem. 

Having to pay extra for a very basic rendering online is obviosly not an option considering that the software to begin with isn't cheap and that the earlier version had no problem with this quite simple task.

Patrick