3D shadows with motion blur

[Ed Mundy]

Thanks Dave.

I’m fairly certain that is not what is happening, as the layer that the shadow is being cast upon is also blurring, but the shadow is not blurring at all.

To be sure, I just tried moving some of the layers closer and farther from the “floor” (onto which the shadows are being cast), from a few pixels away to several hundred pixels away. It makes no difference. The shadow simply doesn’t blur at all. It acts as if motion blur is not turned on.

Thanks,
Ed

[Adam Duplay]

Just a quick fix that came to my mind…

Dupe the layers that cast shaddows, change them to shadow only (in material options?) and add a blur to that “shadow only” layer.

Does that work?

Adam

[Ed Mundy]

Thanks Adam.

I think that works as a workaround. The problem is that I have a lot of layers, and duplicating them all would be very time-consuming, especially if I go back and make changes later.

I’d also have to keyframe the blur for each layer to match the motion of the camera.

Another thing that seems to work is turning off motion blur for everything and applying the “CC Force Motion Blur” effect to an adjustment layer. This is currently my solution if nothing else works. However, this takes forever to render. I’d much rather figure out a real solution than a workaround, if one exists.

Does anyone know if this is an isolated problem, or if AE simply cannot apply motion blur to shadows?

[Omnidecay]

Create the shadow manually by duplicating the layer thats casting the shadow. Rotate the duplicate 90 degrees on the X axis. Use hue and saturation (or your prefrence) to color the image black. Apply blur on EACH layer (not an adjustment layer) then parent them together. As for motion blur with shadows. I dont think AE recognizes them when casting with a light isnt the shadow a property of the light? The light doesnt allow effects to be put on it so Im guessing this is one of the only ways to cast with effects.

Editor>God