How would you create a good dropshadow..

kk5551 wrote on 2/16/2009, 2:37 PM
Hi all,
It is great to be back on this forum. There are so many talented individuals to gain knowledge from. Thank you.

I am wondering how you would go about creating a nice drop shadow behind some stills that are placed on a white background? I have tried another video track below and blurred it, adjusted the track motion from the one above, but I am not loving how it looks. How would you guys suggest doing this??

Comments

farss wrote on 2/16/2009, 2:51 PM
The track drop shadow controls lets you adjust several shadow parameters. Keyframing and animating the shadow can help no end.
Vegas does not project the shadow onto the underlying media, it composites the shadow onto the underlying media so adding blur to lower tracks does naught.

Understanding the nature of real world shadows is the first step to shaded nirvana, they are not simple things to replicate. There's some very good tutorials on creating realistic shadows using After Effects around. Most of what you'll learn from watching them can be done in Vegas with patience.

Probably best if you could describe what you don't like about your current shadows would help us give more targetted advice.

Bob.
Grazie wrote on 2/16/2009, 9:53 PM
Vegas does not project the shadow onto the underlying media, it composites the shadow onto the underlying media so adding blur to lower tracks does naught. Bob? Could you untangle that for me - please?

Grazie
farss wrote on 2/16/2009, 10:13 PM
"Bob? Could you untangle that for me - please?"

I can try.

The shadow is created by the object casting the shadow, it belongs to that object. So if the shadow is cast onto white, blurring the track that shadow is cast onto does nothing. Blurring the track that contains the object casting the shadow will blur the shadow...and the object as well.

Even if there is nothing for the shadow to be cast onto Vegas still creates a shadow, you can render it out with an apha channel and have object + shadow and then composite that onto something.

Bob.
PeterWright wrote on 2/16/2009, 10:49 PM
A couple of other points that may help the OP:

* 2D Shadow is added by checking the box at the bottom of the Track Motion Window (on the upper track)
* Once enabled, this 2D shadow has its own parameters which can be set in the left hand panel - Offset, Colour, Blur and Intensity.
Earl_J wrote on 2/17/2009, 6:06 PM
Hello,
Peter is right on...

Open the Track Motion function on the track where you want to create the shadow.
Down at the bottom of the window in the keyframe section, there are two options 2D Shadow and 2D Glow. . .
Check the box next to the 2D Shadow and the options will open at the top of the options section on the left side of the keyframe window. . .

Enjoy. . . until that time. . . Earl J.
Rory Cooper wrote on 2/17/2009, 9:20 PM
One good thing about Vegas shadow is that you can control the colour

For example if you have red text then a cool shadow “blue grey just a hint of blue” will complement the red text and the same for blue text you can use a warm shadow hint of orange or red the same applies to graphics

You can also add spot light on the text [from fx bump] and animate the x and do the opposite keys in shadow animation so that the shadow moves in the opposite direction of the spot

For a 3d perspective shadow

Animate your text
Duplicate that in 3d track angle the bottom text to desired angle then add brightness and contrast fx make dark and use slider for transparency levels
Now your shadow will follow your text motion in 3d perspective

Apply this to a normal shadow will solve your problem with a white background

In other words it’s a replica of the original so copy past new track add blur since it will also copy keys just offset the text you are using as shadow


bhurst wrote on 2/20/2009, 2:04 AM
My problem is I can't get any dropshadow at all. I am new to SV, but have been editing video for years.

I have created a PinP using Event Pan/Crop, but when I go through the steps for adding 2D Shadow in the Track Motion dialog, nothing happens.

I have tried varying setting, but never seen a shadow yet.

Thanks in advance.

B
Rory Cooper wrote on 2/20/2009, 2:16 AM
That’s most likely because you are using a full frame pic and the shadow is out the frame

So go to your pan and crop window and make it larger than your pic
PeterWright wrote on 2/20/2009, 2:17 AM
Can you clarify what you're after - do you want a shadow below the whole PinP you have created?

If so, Open the Track Motion window for the PinP Track, check the box next to "2D Shadow" at the bottom, and the shadow will appear. You can then change the colour, offset, blur and intensity of the shadow as desired.
Rory Cooper wrote on 2/20/2009, 2:19 AM
edit
bhurst wrote on 2/20/2009, 4:25 AM
Thanks for the quick responses.

I think I'm doing what you suggest, but no shadow. Here's a link to a screen capture that shows everything.

http://rghurst.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/39/25?xurl=http%3A%2F%2Frghurst.multiply.com%2Fphotos%2Falbum%2F39%2325

You might have to download the image to see enough detail.

Thanks again!

B
PeterWright wrote on 2/20/2009, 4:44 AM
Very hard to make out anything, even after downloading image - higher resolution would have helped, but did you check the box alongside "2D shadow" at the bottom of the Track Motion window? Normally, as soon as you do that, the shadow appears.

- and you didn't respond to my question about exactly what you want to achieve.
bhurst wrote on 2/20/2009, 4:49 AM
Yes .. I marked the 2D Shadow check box.

What I want to accomplish is a dropshadow for the PinP that is at the upper-left corner of the video.

The image I uploaded is 3200x1200. If you go to the link in my previous post and then click the "Download original image (3200x1200)" link at the top of that page, you should be able to see lots of detail.

Thanks!

B
bhurst wrote on 2/20/2009, 5:08 AM
Oops! My mistake. You have to be a member of Multiply.com and logged in to see the link for the full size picture.

Is there some other way to post pictures into the forum?

B
bhurst wrote on 2/20/2009, 6:42 AM
Ok ... if you go to this page and right-click the image, you can download a higher-res view of my dual monitor setup with the dropshadow issues displayed.

Thanks!

B

Drop Shadow Screen Cap
rich__r wrote on 2/20/2009, 7:08 AM
Rather than use Pan/Crop for your PnP you should use Track Motion. Take a look at the Track Motion training video at:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/trainingvids.asp?prod=vegaspro

Rich
Grazie wrote on 2/20/2009, 7:18 AM
Rich? I do believe he IS using Track Motion for what he is calling PnP? Look at his sampler . .and I know what he has done too . .

B, you have actually REDUCED the Shadow Box. I can see this and have reproed it here in London.

When we do a Drop Shadow in TM we get 2 boxes to adjust. You have adjusted the Shadow box so small it is being blocked-out by the LARGER image!

Grazie
bhurst wrote on 2/20/2009, 7:40 AM
I created a new PinP using the exact method shown in the video. Then, selected 2D Shadow. Still no shadow. I even changed the color to red to make it easy to see. Nothing there.

In the video, the shadow simply showed up. It didn't for me. I didn't adjust anything.

B

PinP, Drop Shadow using Track Motion

Sorry you have to download to see detail. Don't have a better way to post pics.
Grazie wrote on 2/20/2009, 7:45 AM
B! Read my post. You have the SHADOW box far too small. - G
bhurst wrote on 2/20/2009, 8:00 AM
No I don't.

On a whim, I opened 8.1 (I am running Vista 64-bit) and tried it there, and it worked fine. I saved the project and opened it in 8.0c (32-bit), and the shadow is not there.

For some reason, it doesn't work in 8.0c in a 64-bit environment.

I went back and forth a couple of times. It's there in 8.1 and gone in 8.0c.

Who would have thought.

B
Grazie wrote on 2/20/2009, 8:03 AM
No, I don't know what you have done with this 2nd example. I have repeated your setup and have a drop shadow AND a glow working well. Quite attractive, actually! But no. The 1st example was you had the shadow too small, but this one? Maybe you need to adjust the colour to at least SEE the shadow. Try a glow too, just so you can prove you are getting there.

What build and version of VegasPro8 are you using? I'm on VP8c Build 260.

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 2/20/2009, 8:05 AM
Ah! Now this could be making oodles of sense now . .seeeshh . . . moving on . . Tell you what! Send this off, via RobertW, to SONY! He may have a list he wants put right?

Grazie
bhurst wrote on 2/20/2009, 8:12 AM
How do I send to RobertW ... who is he?

Only problem, on the one render test I did, 32-bit was faster than 64-bit ... 19min vs. 23 min on a 32 min AVCHD video rendered to HDV.

I was planning on using 32-bit because of that, but now I guess not.

B
bhurst wrote on 2/27/2009, 5:57 AM
I am embarrassed, but obligated, to report that the whole issue of the dropshadow not working was a newbie mistake by ME.

The reason the dropshadow wasn't showing up was that I had inadvertently selected the Split Screen option in SV8.0c, so the side of the screen where I had the PnP was not getting the effect.

Oh well ...

B