• Adobe After Effects Expressions

  Expressions to make a drop shadow interact with 2D background.

  Posted by Robert Combs on February 5, 2007 at 6:45 pm

  Hi everyone,
  Can someone help me with this…?
  Is there a way (using expressions) to set up a drop shadow effect so that when the object moves away from the background, the drop shadow becomes more blurry and offset?

  Unfortunately, because of other factors, I can’t do this element in 3D or I would simply do it this way.

  Thanks, Rob

  Dan Ebberts replied 19 years, 6 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Dan Ebberts

  February 5, 2007 at 10:32 pm

  If it’s not 3D, how does the object “move away” from the background. By scaling?

  If so, some variation of these expressions for Distance and Softness should work:

  // Distance
  minScale = 50;
  maxScale = 200;
  minDistance = 5;
  maxDistance = 20;
  linear (scale[0],minScale,maxScale,minDistance,maxDistance)

  // Softness
  minScale = 50;
  maxScale = 200;
  minSoftness = 0;
  maxSoftness = 40;
  linear (scale[0],minScale,maxScale,minSoftness,maxSoftness)

  Set the values of the parameters to fit your needs.

  Dan

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