Tutorials for Visual Effects & Motion GraphicsFree After Effects Tutorials & More Hosted By: Andrew Kramer
Running Time: 6mins.
71. 3D Shadows
August 02, 2008
• Cast 3D shadows onto live action footage
• Use shadow diffusion and special material options
• Use shadow diffusion and special material options
Additional Tutorial Notes:
When working with lights be sure to change the composition to Adaptive Resolution instead of OpenGL. You may also try using a Spot Light instead of a Point Light.
When working with lights be sure to change the composition to Adaptive Resolution instead of OpenGL. You may also try using a Spot Light instead of a Point Light.
Please Read
If you are having a problem viewing the tutorial or downloading a project file or preset, please start a new thread about it in the Website Support Forum. This section is for commenting on the tutorial, not posting problems. If you post a problem with the tutorial here, it will not get dealt with in a timely manner.
If you are having a problem viewing the tutorial or downloading a project file or preset, please start a new thread about it in the Website Support Forum. This section is for commenting on the tutorial, not posting problems. If you post a problem with the tutorial here, it will not get dealt with in a timely manner.


















Thank you..
and the new vediocopilot style also staggering.
Wagner - Curitiba - Paraná - Brazil
great work!!
New SC tut
What more do we wish in a weekend.
Thanks
Greetings from Sweden!
Lycka till i framtiden! (Good luck in the future) =)
i have a problem with Lights in AE. it never use to happen before, i think its because i installed Vista. When i create a light, it turns all my 3D layers to black. i tried moving the light around, increasing intensity.. nothing seems to work
French beginner AE;..
thank you Andrew for this Tutorials
congrats for your tutorials
Next tutorial can u explain us how to make firingt things without particles? It would be cool :)
From the Netherlands.
So quick to the point, thanks Andrew.
The First congratulates the new website to be open!
Recently,tutorials 66,67,68,69,70,71 can't watch now,can you help us?
please help your FANS of China.Many peoples is your Fans,We worry very much,Thanks!
Icelandic beginner
Thanks a lot mate ;) keep on keepin on.
P.S - I loved your little street joke haha, couldn't hold back the laughs
Greetings from Greece.
Congrats for the new site too
Greetings from Africa!
Great tutorial,
haha, i love your tutorials-- informative and funny!
Thank You!
Chris ~ 198 Howitzer Place. Canada
your videos are so enjoyable.
the first thing i do in the morning is to check videocopilot and andrew's magic.
from bemgium
after you will show some technic.
thx
bora
VERY VERY NICE !
Thanks a lot ;)
Http://www.After-Effects.Blogfa.Com
Nice and cool
I like to say thanks for you becouse finnaly I discover a mistery of AF watchin your tutorials.
Thanks and cheers!
very thanks you~~^^
Always nice to watch the tutorials
and learn more from Andrew Cramer
great
thanks
greetinngs from john
arnhem
holland
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???iacodproxy.igsb.uiowa.edu
???3128
Thank you Andrew.You're the best.
Dizhi:iacodproxy.igsb.uiowa.edu
Duankou:3128
han zi da bu chu chu lai ,wo yong pin yin.
CHINA~~CHINA~~CHINA~~CHINA~~CHINA~~
THANKS ANDREW .
Really nice tuts! Love it!
Keep it Up mate!
Hope to see more and more tuts soon!
Best Regarts,
Thomas
Ireland
Many thanks from across the 'pond' in England!
Greetings from Turkiye!
Great tutorial,
Cheers
Good continuation.
From Morrocco. Very good contry.
I am loving the new tutorial page design and all the great new functionality of the site. Keep it coming Andrew. I'll be right here soaking it all up. Have a great week.....and I hope the China Hut was good....
I needed it so many times and I can't believe it so simple
Great tut Andrew! Thanks a bunch!
Kalle
Sweden
ill defiantly be using it in the future!
Thanks Mr. Kramer.. :)
Here is an example of "Floating" signs in the real world.
http://de-war.de/eurekacarpark.html
brazil loves you!
Just wanted to say, where ever i look i see people using your products... Then one day, I was watching HBo (i live in India) and i see the exact same text
(the colorful universe tutorial) with the latest movies in Hbo.... Man!! i dont know whether you made it for them or some one used your tutorials, but man HBO?? cooool... where else??
love your work...
how can I make a 3D text in after with volume?
pdiaz@canal10mardelplata.tv
Thank you again for your time.
I have a question about this tutorial though. Is there a way to make the text, when looked at an angle, to look thicker? What I mean is, can we make the text look like it was carved out of bricks? (I care less about the texture, and more about making the text look thicker rather than thiner).
Thanks again for all that you do.
From Argentina
from Montreal Canada
I have a problem with the lights...
I turn off the "accept lights" on the solid ... and the shadows dissapear...
What`s happened with my sofware??? thanks ---
You´re wonderful.. Saludos desde colombia ...
Greetings from Petro - Austria!
This new site is cool!
thanks, Great tutorial
Congratualations!!
Thanks from Espirito Santo - Brasil
great tips nonetheless!
I´m sorry for my english, I am from Nicaragua
Greating.
T.U.S.M
Funny too. Like the new layout.
Jimmy
Greetings from Lichtenstein.
Thanks - Hagenlagen Vuegenstanaugn
"Gunnerson" - nice idea!
Really.. ALLAH has given you great mind!.
i love you...
Thanks!
al2cl3 - Québec,Canada
Bless You
thanx andrew bless you
You are the one.
Thanks
I did everything like you said but
when i turn off the accept lights of the BG
i dont get any shadows,what could it be that i'm doing wrong?
best regards,
daniel holst
13 years old
Denmark
Would be cool if you could make a tut on text effects similar to where the text is attached or interacting dynamically with the scene. Like in the movie Stranger Than Fiction.
Very nice tutorial Andrew *thumbs up*
We (Somethink Producciones) are from San Juan, Argentina.
You help us so much with our videos. A lot of thanks.
We was couldn´t believe in cinema magics until we know about you.
You inspire us to create.
Sorry my bad english. Like my country, I speak Spanish.
Good luck!
PablichZZ (Somethink Producciones)
Excellent and extraordinary work...
Karachi,Pakistan.
U R really awesome
thanks for every toturial.
take care dude
greetings from Chile.
Thank u for this is tutarial video and tutarial video's.
i like AE for you.
Because i learning AE
Thank u thank uuu
I have a problem with the shadow part :(
when i turn off the accept lights of the BG layer the shadow disappears...
What can I do????
PLEAAAASEEE help me.. help us.. hahaha..
I can tell for your voice that you didn't enjoy very much doing so.
If you were expecting more praises sorry but this is not the occasion.
Best Regarts.
Bye from Italy.
keep it up!
Thanks for your tutorial?
from china
Best regards from Romania!
have u any website of combustion...
plssss give me sir...
you are best !
IT REALY COOL EFFECT ...Thank you Andrew ..
This tutorial doesn't work with my AE CS3 and I don't know why. I made all that you say but when I set OFF the "accept light" in the white solid the shadows desapears. Do you know what can I do to fix it?
Thank you and I'm your fan.
Thanks
great tutorials, but i cant go through the multiply mode part..
when i made the BG layer 'multiply', there was no shadow casted on it..
i check again and again, everything was the same as your tutor..
guess i'm wrong somewhere but if you have any idea where to look at, feel free to mention it.
thanx..
my prob the same as Fabricio..
lol..
You are Great, with excellent skills on After Effects. From now on, you are my teacher. Thanks a lot and will keep in touch!!!
BIG THANKS to you and all your team
(Paris)
Love the new site! can't wait for the next tutorial. Honestly i have learnt so much with you that i have become a Master in Motion Graphics! Well, getting there. But i can honestly say that you a re the best teacher we all can have man! Thanks for your dedication and support. The after effects community SALUTE! Mr Kramer in da housee!! YEAHHHHHH!!
When I try to set the 'accept lights' off for the solid, the text shadow disappears.
I was trying to follow along, but there was a problem.
As soon as I switch off "accept light" on the solid, the shadow disappears as well.
I even tried it on the project file from this tutorial and it didn't work.
I'm using CS3
It's a honor for me to be sending you a message. I really appreciate your efforts to help all videographic designers to have a better life! :)
I really would like to have a chance to chat with you a bit, but anyway, I supposed you are probably one of those really busy busy busy buys over there!
Thank you, very very much for helping me so much on my work! Have a good life, buddy!
Whenever you come to brazil. keep in touch for we to some "caipirinha", all right?
Ramon Rodrigues - Brazil.
?m from turkey in manisa
www.newzatcekim.tr.cx after effect ders konusunda yard?mc? olabiliriz.
thank you
I like to know how link a mask point to a null, thanks, my mail is iru81@hotmail.com
Can you make a 3D motion tracking tutorial? Please.
I'm doing a music video for school and it would just be so helpful.
Thanks again from Australia! (woot! Olympics!)
When I turn accepts lights off on my floor, it wont accept shadows anymore.
what's happening?
Though i have a problem and i saw thet it happened to other people too...
when i turn off the "accept lights" in the BG layer the shadows dissapere....
how can i fix it ?
and tired for try and nothing happen!! what's happennign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dipo from Nigeria.
Great work!
why i can't see the film when i click "watch"?
expecting your reply!
Thank you!
There's no better way to market yourself. are you available to work on projects?
U are really amazing.
respect!
form kenya
And for this you will have to give me free all your work.
Please contact me imediatelly so I can give you my bank accounts where I will receive the paiments for your dvd-s.
if you not contact me in the next minutes, I will take 90% from your sallary.
Now back to work!!
thanks alot from germany:)
It really looks like you created this software... ^^
I´m an AE veteran (since coSA After Effects time)ánd I´ve not seen someone to make this stuff look like everyone can do it.
Hope you enjoyed your chinese hat... lol.
Juan from Colombia.
I can see nothing.
It break my heart .
I realy want to watch it.
who can help me...?
I love your tutorials but I have to say that what I love the most are your coment in the midle of an explanation. How great you are HaHaHa
Thankyu from Spain!
I´m sitting in a internet cafe with sort amount of time credit but with this tutorials its damn well send!
Just f'ning with you guys
Greetz ( during vacation )out of berlin
I made a little somthing about a year ago sort of similar like this. Bit it has more to do with projecting 3d shadows on an image, making it come alive. But the tecnique (obviously) works with moving footage too.
Check it out at:
http://www.dynamicdevil.se/index.php?page=a-remark-you-made
If you'd like to have some comps to see how I did it, let me know!
its kamran from lahore,Pakistan
i m a big fan of urs and ur tutorials i learn this thing from ur tut and working on it pretty well
there is just 1 thing i like to ask is there nay short way to switch bitween the comps so i dont have to click on the comp all the time can u tell me plz
thanks
i ll be waiting for that plz tell us all abt that
Thank you very much, from Greece
Have you ever seen Fringe?
They use it too!
Nice to see this technique being used!
My problem with this tut is that no matter what I move (lights, camera, action)I can't get my shadows to meet up with my text! If I bring the text down to the floor...my shadow disappears! I tried different fonts and that made no difference. Is there something I'm missing here? Other than this, it all works great!!!
TS
(fROM bRAsIL!!!)
Big thanks from sweden!
Thank you for the inspiration and for your tutorials.
i have a problem and i saw thet it happened to other people too...
when i turn off the "accept lights" in the BG layer the shadows dissapere....
how can i fix it ?
please help
thanks
www.djfile.blogspot.com
Make more tutorials.... NOW!
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=8gIbX6-6HZ8
pls can you give us a tutorials about tv motion graphic
you now we need a demo about tv
pls can you give us like this tutorials and how could we get the idea for this thinks..
and my best wishes for you..
I love your tutorials! Everything you show, are as simple and useful as the work of a genius. Thank you for your time and effort from me and my colleagues from Russia.
Hands down to your tutorials, your like post production genius!
Im doing my final project at university in motion tracking, its an opening sequence for a film, I wanted to composite 3D titles onto the footage. What I was wondering was, can the principles used in this tutorial be applied for moving footage, as the tutorial is done with a still? Also, would you recommend using AE for the full of this project, or do you think it would be better done using 3D software and Motion Tracking software? Thanks for any help you can give!
Your tuts are pretty much the best on the net i reackon.
Ive been on here a few times and i only had adobe after effects cs3 for about 2 weeks and im already understanding it slightly
oh and by the way im only 14 so yeah i guess im
quick learner =]
Anyways thanks forall your tuts man.
Keep it up!
Anyway, to the point (: And I'm actually amazed nobody else has said this.
See, I've got After Effects CS3 (so it shouldn't be some issue with an old version) and I just don't get any shadows. I tried making my own at first, didn't get shadows. So I downloaded your project file and tried that: no shadows. Sort of strange. Every other tutorial of yours (well, all that I've tried, though for some I miss a plug-in) works fine. Any solution to this problem?
I realy enjoy with your tutorials
thanks a los..
YOU ROCK!
When i switched off 'Accepts Lights' the shadow went away too...
but it worked great when i switched to a Spot Light!!
can u make a tutorial that show us how to make text come for behind a person in a normal clip( no green screen)
please...thanks