Adding Shadows

[Dave Fraser]

HIYA, APOLOGIES FOR THE CAPS, I’M RENDERING.

ERR SHADOWS…..

I ONLY REALLY EVER USE 2 DIFFERENT METHODS FOR SHADOWS, YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY TRIED THEM, BUT METHOD 1: IS TO USE CC SLATE, THATS PRETTY GOOD, AND THEN METHOD 2: WOULD BE TO DUPLICATE YOUR KEY, ADD TINT EFFECT AND USE MASKS.

HOPE THAT HELPS, BE GOOD TO THE FINAL OUTCOME.

Dave Fraser
Motion Graphics Artist
Big Button Media LTD
http://www.bigbutton.tv

[Darby Edelen]

[Dave Fraser] “AND THEN METHOD 2: WOULD BE TO DUPLICATE YOUR KEY, ADD TINT EFFECT AND USE MASKS.”

I would recommend something like this approach. Maybe use the Generate > Fill effect to fill the keyed duplicate subject with black, mask around the feet/lower legs, add a Matte > Simple Choker and expand the layer some, then add a fairly heavy blur. Simple shadows, but should be pretty effective.

Also, Dave, you can move your Render Queue pane up into the same space as your composition preview window and get the same benefits as using Caps Lock while rendering… without having to yell on the forums 😉

Instead of re-drawing the composition preview pane, you’ll just get to look at the render progress.

Darby Edelen

NVIDIA
Santa Clara, CA

[Kevin Dearing]

I’ve only been doing this stuff a little while and am not sitting in front of AE so it’s all from my foggy memory but I use a method that Andrew Kramer displays in one of his recent tutorials.

Essentially, I create a white solid, make it 3d. Add a camera (if not in scene already) and move it around so the solid is roughly in line with the ground plane… Make sure accepts shadows is turned on and a few other settings.. I add a light to the scene and place it where the real light should be.. I make sure that nothing accepts lights but that my keyed people (or object) cast shadows..

It worked out for me quite well two times now..

Here’s the link to the tutorial I was referring to:

https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/3d_shadows/

–KTFA

[Darby Edelen]

Yes, that’s a good old technique as well, but it could become very complicated in the scene that the OP referenced with all of those different planes. If your white solids don’t line up with those planes pretty exactly then things will look… wrong.

Darby Edelen

NVIDIA
Santa Clara, CA

[Kevin Camp]

here’s something you might try to create fake 3d drop shadows…

select one of your keyed people and apply the following effects in order: cc slant, drop shadow, transform, grow bounds and cc composite.

for starters, set the drop shadow effect to distance: 0; and ‘shadow only’. set cc composite to add alpha.

now in cc slant start adjusting the slant and height to get a shadow angle that starts to look correct, if the shadows don’t touch the feet, use transform to adjust the position of the shadow. adjust the drop shadow color, opacity and softness as needed.

if the keyed figure is getting cropped, use grow bounds to increase the size of the effect area and fill the figure back out.

once you have setting that work for one figure, select all the effects then choose animation>save animation preset. now you can select all your figures and apply the same animation preset to all of them at once. you’ll most likely need to make some adjustments to the cc slant settings to keep the shadow angle looking correct on a 3d scene, and maybe a few other settings, but i think it should be manageable.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW