shadow only?

[payton]

select a (3D!) layer and hit AA or twirl down until you see the material options.
there you find the option "cast shadow". turn it to "only".

thats it. dont forget to let your light cast shadows and let the other layers receive shadows.

as mentioned above, this works only with 3D layers.

good luck,
payton

[Shinjipierre]

payton, you didn't understand ;)

Put a white solid that receives the shadows and change the blending mode into multiply.

[payton]

payton, you didn't understand ;)

Put a white solid that receives the shadows and change the blending mode into multiply.

well, after re-reading the topic - i totally agree ;)

[DangerousCliff]

Thanks, that's the first thing I tried, and it works as long as the shadows are multiplying on a layer inside the comp. However, I was hoping to have the shadows and transparency in an exported file (Targa with Alpha) so that my editors could lay the animation over whatever background they will be using. I was hoping to be able to do this in one file, embedded in the alpha channel, rather than giving them a separate pass for the shadows. they're spoiled, what can I say.

Thanks for the help, and suggestions!

[jussing]

However, I was hoping to have the shadows and transparency in an exported file (Targa with Alpha)In that case, make a black solid below the shadow layer you have now, and select "inverse luminance" as matte for the black layer. Then it's going to inverse the white layer with the shadow - so it's a white shadow on a black background - and use that as alpha for your black layer.

That should do it.

(but honestly, if I were you compositors, I'd downright prefer to have the shadows in a seperate pass...)

Cheers,
- Jonas

[DangerousCliff]

Thanks for that suggestion, jussing, and it works for light and dark areas, but not for cast shadows.

as for having the shadows as a separate pass, I'm absolutely on the same page as you... unfortunately, this is a "turn and burn" job where we're just tagging. A quick logo fly-on from me, and several Avid editors tagging multiple spots- and they like it when they can just lay on one matte key (in Avid terms) to save render time, plus vanilla Avid does not have a solution for setting the shadow layer to 'multiply' or 'darken' or something equivalent.

I really dislike Avid, but that's a completely different thread...

The project is already over, so my research is academic at this point- so the next time this crops up, I'll know the solution up front.

Thanks again!

[jussing]

Thanks for that suggestion, jussing, and it works for light and dark areas, but not for cast shadows.Hm, I don't understand how a shadow differs from a dark area. Do you mean you want the background texture in the shadow...?

- Jonas

[DangerousCliff]

I have 3d layers in a comp, and the logo elements (3d layers) cast shadows on some solids in the background using a spotlight in AE. this is not anything spectacularly groundbreaking in practice. Te editors want to use one file, rather than taking the time to render with two (Wahh, I know). So I'm trying to figure out a way that the background layers render out only the shadows and lighting effects (cone, diffusion, etc).

I tried your method, and It works great for the lighting effects, but the cast shadows do not show up at all. I put in just a basic solid, cast shadows are there, but not on the matte setup you suggested. I'm beginning to think its a limitation in AE.

and all this because the editors (not compositors) don't want to take a three click extra step. *shruggs*

I'll post a file of what I'm doing (wrong?)

[DangerousCliff]

Same setup, but with solid placeholders. still no luck, but illustrates my problem.

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