# Can a material cast shadows but not receive them

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/can-a-material-cast-shadows-but-not-receive-them/288337>\
**Category:** Rendering\
**Tags:** shadow, Shadows, light, cast-shadow, unreal-engine, Lighting, question\
**Created:** [July 16, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/can-a-material-cast-shadows-but-not-receive-them/288337 "2014-07-16T08:14:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dralex789](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Dralex789](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Dralex789)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/can-a-material-cast-shadows-but-not-receive-them/288337/1 "2014-07-16T08:14:21Z")

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I am trying to set up some advanced foliage for a scene and was wondering if there was a way for a specific material to cast shadows (like leaves) but not themselves receive them (but still receive traditional lighting from other sources)

Thanks in advance,

Alex

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**Author:** ![Osok](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Osok](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Osok)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/can-a-material-cast-shadows-but-not-receive-them/288337/2 "2014-12-10T04:10:37Z")

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I would like to know this as well.

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**Author:** ![TempDN3](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@TempDN3](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/TempDN3)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/can-a-material-cast-shadows-but-not-receive-them/288337/3 "2014-12-31T13:16:35Z")

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I’ve managed to solve this problem for myself, so hopefully you can make use of my solution.  
I’m using emissive color to overcome the self-shadowing. Hopefully the next UE4 update will finally include a toggle for ‘Receive Shadow’

Here’s the material I’m using for my leaves:

 ![25263-leaves_bp.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/8/8/1/881d27ed305be8e38f661f72074acbbbda9fdf72.jpeg)

And here’s how it looks like in a test scene (It’s the trees in the red circles):

 ![25270-test_shadows2.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/a/0/0/a005e956e4c6cdc5b295347a9c4f7fcddedcf4ce.jpeg)

The material even looks good from the ground:

 ![25269-tree_ground2.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/f/0/b/f0b648011fe67c2893a5e13f5153876266dcbf54.jpeg)

The 2 trees are built using different methods and both look ok using this material:

 ![25272-tree_3d_2.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/8/9/e/89e2a29e540ef80c87d93b4b668557782b359100.jpeg)

Hopefully this has helped you. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Dralex789](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Dralex789](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Dralex789)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/can-a-material-cast-shadows-but-not-receive-them/288337/4 "2015-01-05T17:50:57Z")

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This is actually the solution I found on my own heh. Not a perfect solution but it works well enough when lit during the day. It does unfortunately create some weird issues in darker scenes but it is definitely a start.

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**Author:** ![Matheus\_Souza](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Matheus\_Souza](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Matheus_Souza)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/can-a-material-cast-shadows-but-not-receive-them/288337/5 "2017-02-11T20:08:31Z")

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You have change the vertex normal ?(tree)