Add drop shadow after effects how to#

Here I didn’t notice that my image was accepting lights until I moved the light in front of it. Switching to different camera views is a good way to get a better feel of your light’s position and length of the shadow. The next step is to move around the light in 3D space until your shadow starts to mimic the shadows from the video. You want your shape layer to accept shadows but not lights and you want the animation layer to cast shadows and accept lights. Before you move it around, change a couple of settings on the shape and animation layer. Once everything looks lined up, change the blending mode on the rectangle to multiply. Flipping camera modes to top and side lets you place the element right against the rectangle at a 90 degree angle. I need to make sure my animation is directly on top of the rectangle and has 3D mode turned on as we fine tune it’s placement.

Add drop shadow after effects how to#

I’ve started by rotating my rectangle 90 degrees at the X-axis and then tweaking its placement so it looks like its sitting on top of the ground. Intro Drop Shadow Effects of After Effects Jake In Motion 168K subscribers Subscribe Subscribed 16K views 2 years ago Effects of After Effects In this quick tutorial, I explain how to use. The goal is for this white rectangle to sit where the ground is and have the cartoon directly on top. I set my lens to 35mm because thats what I shot the lower layer at. The general concept of this technique is that we are going to setup a virtual light to mimic the sun and a shape layer to accept the shadow, so you’ll first want to add a shape layer, draw a white rectangle with the shape tool and then make sure the layer is in 3D Click any of the images below for larger view. This effect is best if you use bottom layer footage with well defined shadows, I’ve chose this midday short shadow shot that I will drop a little looping cartoon on top of. This trick can give your video a nice cohesiveness and add an easy 3D effect to a flat object. By understanding and experimenting with the different options available in the Drop Shadow dialogue box, you can create a wide variety of shadow effects to suit your needs.Adding a shadow to a 2D element in After Effects helps sell a 3D effect.ĭrop a shadow from a 2D element in After Effects and match it up with the existing shadows of a piece of footage. ConclusionĪdding a drop shadow effect in GIMP is a simple process that can greatly enhance the look of your images. Keep in mind that once the text layer is rasterized, you won’t be able to edit the text anymore. This will convert the text layer into a normal layer, allowing the drop shadow and other filters to apply correctly. To do this, right-click the text layer and select Discard Text Information. In some cases, when adding a drop shadow effect to text in GIMP, you may need to rasterize the text layer first. Now, you can use the Eraser tool to erase parts of the shadow. Choose White (full opacity) and click Add. To add a layer mask, right-click on the drop shadow layer in the Layers dialog and select Add Layer Mask. This allows you to mask off certain parts of the shadow or erase unwanted areas using the eraser tool. If you want to create more advanced drop shadow effects, you can try adding a layer mask to the drop shadow layer. A lower value will make the shadow more transparent.Īfter adjusting these options to your liking, click OK to apply the drop shadow effect to your image.

Opacity: This option controls the transparency of the shadow.

Color: This option allows you to choose the color of the shadow.

A higher value will make the shadow more blurry.

Blur radius: This option allows you to control the blurriness of the shadow.

Offset X and Offset Y: These values control the distance of the shadow from the object in the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) directions respectively.

In the Drop Shadow dialogue box, you can adjust various options to customize the drop shadow effect: This will open the Drop Shadow dialogue box.

Go to the menu and select Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow. Now, it’s time to apply the drop shadow effect. To fill the selection, select the Bucket Fill tool from the toolbox, choose your color, and click on the selection. This will be the color of the object that casts the drop shadow. Step 3: Fill the SelectionĪfter making the selection, fill it with the desired color. These tools can be found in the toolbox on the left side of the screen. This can be done using the selection tools in GIMP, such as the Rectangle Select or Ellipse Select tool. Once your image is open, you need to make a selection around the area where you want the drop shadow to appear. You can create a new image by selecting File > New or open an existing image where you want to add the drop shadow effect by selecting File > Open. Conclusion Step 1: Open GIMP and Select Your Imageįirstly, open the GIMP application on your computer.Step 1: Open GIMP and Select Your Image.