Two Fold

[David Bogie]

> 1: Is there a way, in AE, to create a cloth/sheet of fabric that would lay over a text layer and that could be then “pulled away” to reveal that layer underneath? I would like to have the cloth “mold” around the text, as is you really draped a cloth over an object. I hope I am explaining this correctly.

Not really, not with the stock software. AE is not a 3d application. You can fake it but it would be easier to work in a true 3d modeler. Displacement mapping is your friend in this case but by the time you’ve figured out how to get something useful, you could have purchased and learned a more suitable application.

> 2: How can I add believable shadows to a keyed subject? Depending on the shot sometimes it might fall on the floor behind them, but in other shots the shadow would fall under their feet.

Use the effects search to locate all shadow effects. Radial Shadow might be what you want but the stock software may not have what you need. True Shadow is from DigiEffects, very cool. We used to do this in the olden days by creating a matte of the key image, filling with with gray, and using distort filters to make it appear to be realistic. It gets impossible once your foreground object moves in front of multiplanar objects and you’re trying to fake interactive shadows.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Jay Shelton]

Thank you for the reply!

[david bogie] “True Shadow is from DigiEffects, very cool.”

I tried looking through the digieffects.com site for the plugin but didn’t find it. Is it included in a bundle and maybe I missed it when looking through the features?

Thanks again!

—
Jeremey @ DI