Solid objects don't block light

[haskul]

I don't know if this is a limitation intended or otherwise in Maya but when I put a light source in a scene that illuminates a complex object, it illuminates the entire object uniformly. So for example if I have a single mesh object which is a sphere with a spike sticking out the side (still the same mesh) and I put a light on one side of the spike, I would expect that the light would not go through the spike and illuminate the other side, but it does.

Any ideas as to why this is? Any help would be appreciated.

[joojaa]

Turn either raytracing on and use raytraced shadows or then use depthmap shadows (i would recomend the later)

[empleh]

Are you using an ambient light?

Did you adjust the values of the ambient or incancescent terms of the shader?

ww