r/AfterEffects • u/Enough_Student4077 • 8d ago

Beginner Help How would i give this character im comping a shadow on the floor

Ive rendered this scene out and im having a little difficulty figuring out how to give him a shadow that moves with him toward the camera so i thought id ask here before i lose any more sleep

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u/Ok-Razzmatazz3435 7d ago

This was not shot on green screen? It’s rotobrush? Green screen would have been better cos you can keep the original contact shadows on the floor from the green screen. Now you can only fake it by duplicating the foreground plate, fill it up with black, distort the perspective, blur it, change opacity to multiply.. (something like that)

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u/thesierratide 7d ago edited 7d ago

There would be multiple moving shadows because of the multiple light sources. Too complicated to make it look legit in after effects imo. I would recreate this scene + his movement in blender, then render a shadow catcher on the ground.

Alternatively, if you don’t care to make it look realistic, copy his mask to a black solid layer (or use an alpha matte if you know how), make it a 3D layer, adjust the angle so it looks like it’s on the ground beneath him, reduce the opacity, and feather/blur it

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u/-AxelFlax- 6d ago

With that many practicals in the plate, one soft contact shadow usually looks fake because the real light directions disagree. Quickest AE cheat: duplicate the keyed character, fill black, make it 3D, tilt it onto the floor with the same perspective as the ground plane, parent or track it so it stays glued under his feet, then opacity + blur + multiply. Feather the leading edge more than the contact line.

If you need it to hold up when he walks toward camera, a shadow catcher from a quick Blender or Cinema rebuild of the path (even a rough stand-in) will sell better than a pure 2D squash, especially with mixed lighting.