# Cast Shadows Only Near Player?

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadows-only-near-player/466665>\
**Category:** Rendering\
**Tags:** Shadows, unreal-engine, Foliage, Lighting, grass, question\
**Created:** [June 13, 2020, 6:56am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadows-only-near-player/466665 "2020-06-13T06:56:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![niklaus\_the\_meek](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@niklaus\_the\_meek](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/niklaus_the_meek)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2020, 6:56am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadows-only-near-player/466665/1 "2020-06-13T06:56:15Z")

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Hello everyone,

I have a general noobish question; is it possible to make objects only cast shadows within a radius near the player? I have a big grassland with dynamic lighting and would love to have the foliage near the player cast beautiful shadows, but have all the grass farther than around 2000 away from the player cast no shadows, similar to LODs but with shadows instead of polygons. Can’t seem to find an answer anywhere

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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**Author:** ![ClockworkOcean](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/clockworkocean/32/1169999_2.png) [@ClockworkOcean](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/ClockworkOcean)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2020, 9:48am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadows-only-near-player/466665/2 "2020-06-13T09:48:27Z")

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On the directional light, shadow distance:

![304293-shadow-distance.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/0/b/6/0b6358f22522d2c7e2636d048bfa33a5ae4c9238.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![chrudimer](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/chrudimer/32/918651_2.png) [@chrudimer](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/chrudimer)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2020, 11:14am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadows-only-near-player/466665/3 "2020-06-13T11:14:51Z")

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Hi, you can set per lod whether or not it should cast shadows

 ![304285-annotation-20-06-13.jpg](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/0/3/203895583a7585da57014cb14fc933d2aeec3786.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![niklaus\_the\_meek](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@niklaus\_the\_meek](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/niklaus_the_meek)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2020, 4:11am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadows-only-near-player/466665/4 "2020-06-22T04:11:05Z")

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Thank you both, solved quick and easy. Learnin!  
-N

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**Author:** ![Clab4293](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@Clab4293](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/Clab4293)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:06am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cast-shadows-only-near-player/466665/5 "2025-02-27T03:06:19Z")

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I am having an opposite issue with a game. Seems like cascaded shadows are only being cast around the player in a circle…  
Is there a way to increase the distance of this. [Steam Community :: Screenshot](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3427620973)