Shadows

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

It shouldn’t be any different from adding shadows to non-keyed footage. What is that you want to do specifically and what issues are you having?

RoRK

broadcastGEMs.com – the leader in customizable royalty-free animated backdrops

[Danny Hays]

I guess I should have stated it that way. When I key someone from heat to toe, I can make it look very real except for floor shadows. Adobe Ultra has a parameter for 5 diferent shadows which are ok,,, better than none. I’m still new to After Effects and would like to add shadows with it. Any tutorials on this that you know of? I posted this several days agao and your the first to respond so thanks. Danny Hays

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Hmm, well there is Perspective>Radial Shadow. Apply this to a duplicate of the keyed footage so that you can control the shadow layer without impinging on the layer itself.

There is a setting within Radial Shadow that allows for only the shadow to be seen – use this option. Then turn the shadow layer into a 3D layer so that you have more control over the layer’s transformations. If you’re not good with AE’s 3D, then look at Perspective>Basic 3D.

Lots of ways but perhaps this one gives you the most control without requiring lots of AE knowlegde/experience.

HTH
RoRK

broadcastGEMs.com – the leader in customizable royalty-free animated backdrops

[Danny Hays]

OK, that will get me started in the right direction. As I said I’m still new with AF. I just did a google search on perspective radial shadows and found a “Smart drop shadow preset” which I downloaded too. My final goal is to make a music video where I play all the instruments that looks very real. I recently won a National CMT green screen contest but my feet were not in it and shadows were not realy needed. I used Ultra and Sony Vegas to do it. If your interested, here’s the youtube link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Eb0xhzslM
Thanks again, Danny Hays

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Just saw your video. Very clean stuff. You should write us COW folks a tutorial on your production and keying techniques.

One other thing you may want look into is on moving the Anchor Point so that you can ANCHOR the shadow at a particular point as you scale (distort) or rotate your shadow layer.

HTH & Good Luck! Oh, and don’t forget the tutorial! 😉
RoRK

broadcastGEMs.com – the leader in customizable royalty-free animated backdrops

[Danny Hays]

Thanks RoRK, Due to Vegas’s weak chromakey plugin and ultra not being a plugin I could use in a timeline, my workflow for that video was not something I would recommend. For example I had to make a 32 bit uncompressed with alpha avi for every instance of me in the video and Vegas didn’t handle the edges as well as I hoped. Then I discovered Keylight in AF where I can do it all in one comp. I need that freedom to make a music video with 4 of me where timing and placement are crucial, and with anchored shadows and some practice, I think I can make it look very real. I just posted a new thread asking for other peoples chromakey videos so I can see what can be done with AF and keylight. Once I get it down and finish the video, I would love to make a tutorial if people want it. I’d be gald to answer any questions on the subject if that will help anyone. Thanks again. Danny Hays

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

The tutorial sounds good. If you used AE’s built-in 3D capabilities, you can actually have your shadow cast itself on in suc a way that it spreads itself across two or more layers – a wall for example. The shadows will wrap themselves across the wall for very realistic shadow casting.

The only COW tutorial that covers something similar is Rick Gerard’s tutorial on AE’s Light Transmission capabilities. Take note that the mechanics are similar to casting a shadow in AE. The downside is that it’s a steeper learning curve as you’re new to AE and have to tackle 3D issues early on.

Cheers
RoRK

broadcastGEMs.com – the leader in customizable royalty-free animated backdrops

[David Cohen]

i am trying to add shadows to a keyed piece of footage. unfortunately the character moves around mostly forward and back. which creates a problem when i try to add shadows. i am currently using a rendered footage with alpha of the keyed footage and bringing the contrast down and orientating in 3d unfortunately i have to hand animate the shadow when he moves which looks choppy. i would prefer to have something more consistent like 3d shadows but the footage only moves in a 2d environment therefor adding 3d shadows only works before he moves. please help!

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

The old-school way of creating shadows was to duplicate the object, fill it with dark grey and then blur the edges. Coupled with some minor transformation tweaks, this might just work for you – well, hopefully.

Then there’s AE’s built-in 3D shadows thingy which may also work – especially for moving objects.

Cheers
RoRK

broadcastGEMs.com – the leader in customizable royalty-free animated backdrops

[Ana Dave]

thanks for the video.do you possibly know how to make the shadow if it is on the wall in order to break on the edges like real shadow.thanks