Making an after effects layer thick?

[Brad Coulter]

I struggled with this for a couple of hours this afternoon. I finally did something super simple that actually worked. Depending on what you’re trying to do, it might work for you as well. I had a comic book twisting around in a 3d layer and needed it to look a little thicker.

I added a drop shadow to the layer, set the opacity to 100%, messed around with the distance and softness until I liked it pretty well, and voila. It’s not perfect, but it takes 2 minutes to do and worked fine for me.