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Shadow “pops” on when 3D layer revealed by mask!!!
So, I’ve got two 3D layers, one above the other. The top one is casting shadows on the bottom layer. I’m using a mask to reveal the top layer, but the shadow cast onto the bottom layer “pops” on halfway into the mask reveal.
I cannot figure this out! Pre-composing does not work! I’ve tried doing that and masking the layer and then trying to turn on 3d on the pre-composed layer after scaling the original, blah, blah, blah. Same issue.
A friend suggested that it might have to do with advanced settings and OpenGL, but I can’t figure out what.
This is the last part of a job that is due this Monday, so I’m desperate for some advice!
Thanks!
Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire couldn’t conquer the blue sky.
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6 Replies
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I went into the fast preview preferences and switched it to adaptive resolution, unchecked “enable OpenGL”, and switched it to adaptive resolution on the fast preview button on the main window.
Shadow problem still exists, didn’t change anything. I even restarted AE, just to be sure.
Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire couldn’t conquer the blue sky.
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Hmm. I just made a comp, with two solids, added a camera and spotlight, made the solids 3D, moved everything apart in Z, and added a rectangular mask to the upper solid, and animated its shape to reveal (wipe-like) the upper solid. No problems with the shadow. Adaptive Res, 50%, halfRes.
Maybe you could try that in a new project, and see if it works. Whether it does or not will help us figure things out.
BTW, I’m on AE 7 on this laptop.
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Thanks, that helped. I figured out what’s causing it. It’s the light’s shadow diffusion percentage. I have it turned up pretty high (like 60 pixels or so) and the size of the mask was clipping it. I need a much bigger mask, which works.
Thanks for all the help!
Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire couldn’t conquer the blue sky.
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Ah. One for the memory bank. 🙂
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Argh, I thought I was out of the woods. I hadn’t noticed before, but my shadow diffusion was up to 100 pixels. It seems 84 pixels is the highest it can be before the shadow disappears from the masking of the layer.
Any suggestions for that? 100 pixel diffusion is how a part of the whole look of the piece.
Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire couldn’t conquer the blue sky.
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Hmm … any chance you could dupe the shadow casting layer, set it to “cast shadow: only”, but blur it with Fast or Gaussian Blur?
This way you could keep your diffusion level low and get the same look. Maybe.
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