Creating a Drop Shadow

The Shadow effect converts the drawing layer it is connected to into a dark, blurry matte. You can control the type and amount of blur, as well as the colour of the shadow.

On its own, simply connecting a drawing or composite to this effect will only convert your drawing to a shadow, which might not be useful. However, it is possible to make both the original character and its shadow version appear in your scene, and have the shadow version transformed and distorted to appear as a drop shadow. You can accomplish this by doing one of the following: You can accomplish this by creating a node system similar to this one:

TIP When creating a drop shadow against a floor, you can obtain a more realistic effect by using a Quadmap to transform the shadow instead of a Peg. A Quadmap is similar to a peg, except that it allows you to apply perspective effect to the drawings underneath it—see Quadmap Node.
  1. In the Node view, make sure your character's rig is in a group with a composite. If it is not, select all the nodes making your character's right, and do one of the following:
  • Right-click on the selection, then select Group > Group Selection with Composite.
  • In the top-left corner of the Node View, open the View Menu , then select Nodes > Group Selection with Composite.
  • Press Ctrl +Shift + G (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Shift + G (macOS).

  1. Using the Node Library, add a Peg, an Apply-Peg-Transformation, and a Shadow node to your node system.

  1. Connect the output port of your character rig to the input port of the Shadow node.

  1. Connect the output port of the Shadow node to the right-most input port (Image) of the Apply-Peg-Transformation node.

  1. Connect the output port of the peg to the leftmost input port (Transformation) of the Apply-Peg-Transformation node.

  1. Connect the output port of the Apply-Peg-Transformation node to your scene's main composite, just right of the connection for your character rig. This way, the shadow will appear behind your character rig.

  1. Select the Apply-Peg-Transformation's Peg node.
  1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Transform tool.
  1. In the Camera view, scale and skew the selection so that it looks like a drop shadow.