# I want to use functionality similar to ShadowOnlyMaterial but in BabylonJS version 4. How can I achieve that?

**URL:** <https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** shadows, transparency, shadow\
**Created:** [February 25, 2025, 9:40am UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786 "2025-02-25T09:40:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rkshyp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/rkshyp/32/45271_2.png) [@Rkshyp](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/Rkshyp)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:40am UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786/1 "2025-02-25T09:40:06Z")

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I have to use BabylonJS version 4 due to other dependencies. But I need effect similar to ShadowOnlyMaterial which only works above BabylonJS version 5. I have tried some tweaks to change transparency and alpha value of the ground but nothing seems to work. Any help would be a lot.

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**Author:** ![Evgeni\_Popov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/evgeni_popov/32/4432_2.png) [@Evgeni\_Popov](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/Evgeni_Popov)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:55am UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786/2 "2025-02-25T09:55:34Z")

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Welcome aboard!

I’m surprised, because it seems the `ShadowOnlyMaterial` class has been created before the release of 4.0:

- the [history](https://github.com/BabylonJS/Babylon.js/commits/209264fa107578a8bc2fc80430db1feb8ceac0b1/materialsLibrary/src/shadowOnly/shadowOnlyMaterial.ts?browsing_rename_history=true&new_path=packages/dev/materials/src/shadowOnly/shadowOnlyMaterial.ts&original_branch=master) of the `packages/dev/materials/src/shadowOnly/shadowOnlyMaterial.ts` file shows that it has been added to the Github repository in Sep 28, 2018.
- we released 4.0 in May 2019

Are you sure it doesn’t work for you because of a dependency problem? You need the `babylonjs.material` package (or whatever the name was at that time) to be able to use this class.

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**Author:** ![Rkshyp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/rkshyp/32/45271_2.png) [@Rkshyp](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/Rkshyp)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 10:21am UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786/3 "2025-02-25T10:21:40Z")

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I cannot import ShadowOnlyMaterial in BabylonJS version 4.2.0.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/babylonjs/original/3X/c/d/cdc242efad0eedf11a051b1b352503c107309db6.png)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/uploads/babylonjs/original/3X/a/9/a96cf10a25dd3b994eabaa36c20a525c58354a9e.png)

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**Author:** ![Evgeni\_Popov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/evgeni_popov/32/4432_2.png) [@Evgeni\_Popov](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/Evgeni_Popov)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 10:27am UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786/4 "2025-02-25T10:27:28Z")

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`ShadowOnlyMaterial` is in an external package, `babylonjs-materials`, not in core. See:

> **[babylonjs-materials](https://www.npmjs.com/package/babylonjs-materials?activeTab=versions)**
>
> Babylon.js Materials Library
> =====================. Latest version: 7.50.0, last published: 5 days ago. Start using babylonjs-materials in your project by running \`npm i babylonjs-materials\`. There are 25 other projects in the npm registry using...

Also:

[https://doc.babylonjs.com/setup/frameworkPackages/CDN/](https://doc.babylonjs.com/setup/frameworkPackages/CDN/)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rkshyp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/rkshyp/32/45271_2.png) [@Rkshyp](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/Rkshyp)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 10:39am UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786/5 "2025-02-25T10:39:49Z")

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I have installed babylonjs-materials using npm i babylonjs-materials and also added CDN in my html:

```
<script src="https://cdn.babylonjs.com/materialsLibrary/babylon.shadowOnlyMaterial.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.babylonjs.com/materialsLibrary/babylonjs.materials.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.babylonjs.com/materialsLibrary/babylonjs.materials.js"></script>

```

But still same error occurs. How do I import the ShadowOnlyMaterial package then?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Evgeni\_Popov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/evgeni_popov/32/4432_2.png) [@Evgeni\_Popov](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/Evgeni_Popov)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 10:42am UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786/6 "2025-02-25T10:42:59Z")

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cc @RaananW, who knows a lot more than me about packaging!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RaananW](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/raananw/32/28955_2.png) [@RaananW](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/RaananW)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 12:30pm UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/i-want-to-use-functionality-similar-to-shadowonlymaterial-but-in-babylonjs-version-4-how-can-i-achieve-that/56786/7 "2025-02-25T12:30:09Z")

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It seems like you are mixing the es6 and the UMD packages.  
You can import from the `@babylonjs/materials` package, if you use the `@babylonjs/core` package. If you want to share your project it will be simpler to provide a proper resolution, because I am just fishing information from previous messages and screenshots.