Harsh shadows in Pathtracer with HDR

[scpeters]

Hey all,

We are leveraging the pathtracer to perform some internal asset validations. However, we are consistently getting harsh contact shadows where objects touch, either each other or the ground plane. We spent considerable time ensuring that our HDR calibrated and in a reasonable range. We have also checked that the clipping plane is set to a reasonable size, in our case ( 0.01 - 5.0 ).

I have hunted through the render settings as well as the properties of the HDR but cannot seem to reduce the darkness of this shadow, which seems to be physically inaccurate.

Here is our side-by-side. Ignore the faceting on the model. This phenomenon happens with every model / asset we have worked with.

[scpeters]

Here are a couple more renders. You can see when I raise the asset off the surface, the shadow is nearly a perfect circle,… once I raise it high enough, the shadows start to act more accurately.

[scpeters]

[scpeters]

Just posting to confirm that we are using the pathtracer: aka “RTX - Interactive (Path Tracing)”

[scpeters]

ok, I’m silly, but maybe others are too… the artifact was coming from the tesselation. Once I spoked out the top face of the turntable, the shadow issue was resolved:

[PhilippeR]

Hello @scpeters
I am trying to reproduce this issue but so far am not able to. Could you share the scene (likely no need for materials, whatever simplest representation shows the issues)?