# Niagara disable sprite shadow? **URL:** \ **Category:** FX\ **Tags:** unreal-engine\ **Created:** [August 19, 2020, 1:22am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/niagara-disable-sprite-shadow/149422 "2020-08-19T01:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 1:22am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/niagara-disable-sprite-shadow/149422/1 "2020-08-19T01:22:22Z")
… How do I disable shadow casting on a mostly empty sprite emitter? I’m spawning a bunch of particles that follow the actor with a custom material. the material is emissive. The renderer on the Niagara Emitter does not seem to offer any shadow settings. There must be a hidden option somewhere? AND… it’s the distance field shadows that are the issue… probably due to the contact shadows… ---
**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/niagara-disable-sprite-shadow/149422/2 "2020-08-19T23:58:19Z")
Despite having tossed everything into a custom pass, I would still like to know of a way - any way- to prevent niagara GPU sprites from rendering a distance field shadow / contact shadow. Particularly when all shadow casting options are disabled in all possible places and the object is transparent… ---
**Author:** ![imtrobin2](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/2/8/5/28502927f1d97ba1051b3b47ccfe17233bf41ef0.png) [@imtrobin2](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/imtrobin2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/niagara-disable-sprite-shadow/149422/3 "2025-01-24T01:35:32Z")
Hi, is there any update? ---
**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 2:43pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/niagara-disable-sprite-shadow/149422/4 "2025-01-24T14:43:22Z")
No, epic left this broken… ---
**Author:** ![sarahlenker](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/sarahlenker/32/994419_2.png) [@sarahlenker](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/sarahlenker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/niagara-disable-sprite-shadow/149422/5 "2025-01-24T16:29:04Z")
Hi @MostHost_LA, Perhaps this is what you’re looking for? ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/c/f/6/cf642f8ca9f1e24ab9ee4b6ec7cf6eb92fd24fe9.png) These settings are located in the Niagara actor, not in the emitter settings. To easily set default values for your emitter, you may want to create a new blueprint actor with the Niagara system inside, and set your shadow settings there. ---
**Author:** ![MostHost\_LA](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/mosthost_la/32/907035_2.png) [@MostHost\_LA](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/MostHost_LA)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/niagara-disable-sprite-shadow/149422/6 "2025-01-24T16:40:16Z")
Could work for the other user, so thanks for sharing. In my case, the emitter in .26 (or was it .24 at the time?) did not have these options at all. Maybe .27 would… ill try and check just out of curiosity. Cost wise however, the custom pass ended up being cheaper, so I’m not sure I’d change stuff around… But if this works right maybe I can make a tutorial on proper foot print deformations that anyone can follow…