Apple Motion 4 User Manual
Page 1233
Note: 2D groups at the root level of the project do not have lighting or shadow controls.
To enable shadows on such a group, convert it to 3D or embed it within another 3D
group.
Shadow Parameters in the Light Tab
Shadows Checkbox:
The shadows group in the Light tab of the Inspector can be turned
on and off using the Shadows checkbox. By default, it is deselected. This allows you to
set certain lights to cast shadows, and others not to cast shadows.
Selecting this checkbox causes the light to cast shadows on objects in front of it if they
also have their shadow controls enabled. Deselecting it will exempt the light from
generating any shadows, regardless of the settings on the individual objects.
Opacity:
This slider controls the apparent opacity of the shadow. Dragging the slider to
the left creates a lighter shadow.
Opacity set to 25%
Opacity set to 75%
Softness:
This slider determines how blurry a shadow will appear.
Note: The appearance of a shadow is dependent on the rendering quality of the object
casting it. Because a shadow may be larger than the original object, you may see some
jagged edges or aliasing on a shadow that was not visible on the source object. If you
see such artifacts, be sure to check how your image looks when the project is set to best
quality, rather than draft or normal. For more about Canvas display quality, see
.
Uniform Softness:
Select this checkbox to constrain the results of the softness slider to
a uniform amount of blur on the shadow regardless of distance between the light, the
object casting the shadow, and the object receiving the shadow.
By deselecting the checkbox, you enable nonuniform softness, where the farther away
the objects are from each other, the more blur is applied.
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Chapter 18
3D Compositing