Mastering Shadows
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I  n  t  r  o  d  u  c  t  i  o  n

Introduction
Beginners are often puzzled during their very first renderings. They usually think that they only have to create a model and to give it a material for the picture to be rendered, forgoting that a light source, like a lamp, is necessary in order to get anything else than a black screen. Once this very first detail is mastered, they surely wonder why there isn't any shadows in their scene.

This tutorial is all about generating shadows (which is pretty easy) and making them looking the way they should look like (which can become very intricate).
 
A cool beginner picture...
...transfigured by the use of EnvMap on the floor and, of course, the use of shadows !

Note about this scene : the topic of the scene is somehow inspired from the outstanding photorealistic researches led by Manu Batôt on his own webpage. The boots model comes from Michael's Blender Website.