Object

Ray Visibility

Objects can be set to be invisible to particular ray types. This can be used, for example, to make an emitting mesh invisible to camera rays. For instanced objects, visibility is inherited; if the parent object is hidden for some ray types, the children will be hidden for these too.

In terms of performance, using these options is more efficient that using a shader node setup that achieves the same effect.

Camera

Makes the object visible to the Camera; this includes the viewport's perspective in viewport rendering.

Shadow

Enables the object to cast shadows. The object will not be capture inside the shadow maps.

Light Probes

Objects can be set to not be captured by certain light probe. This can be used, for example, to avoid animated object being recorded into static light probes. For instanced objects, visibility is inherited; if the parent object is hidden for some ray types, the children will be hidden for these too.

Volume

Makes the object visible during light probe volumes baking.

Sphere

Makes the object visible during light probe sphere capture.

Plane

Makes the object visible during light probe plane capture.