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Creative22188090x9f2
Inspiring
November 14, 2023
Answered

Issue with the shadow created by point light in AE

  • November 14, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 2527 views

Hi, 

I am trying to animate a page turning following a youtube tutorial. My issue lies with the fact that the shadow does not start at the shape edge, but rather away from it, as if the object is lifted. I have tried to lower the object in the 3D plane but the light still seems to bleed through under it, and I have tried just about everything I could think of but to no avail. Am I missing something? Any advice/solutions?

 

 

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Correct answer Kyle Hamrick

Ok - you're not being silly. I rebuilt this per the tutorial to see if the issue was just with your project or not ... 
Classic 3D is giving (close enough to) the correct look, while the Cinema 4D renderer is creating that gap. 

Investigating to see if I can figure out what's actually at play here. 


I never noticed this gap in the tutorial, but he also never really stops on the few frames where this gap is visible. So I followed a hunch and ... for what it's worth, Manuel's project (which you can download from Gumroad) has the same shadow gap, if you look for it. After bringing this up with a member of the Ae team, it sounds like this is actually a limitation of the C4D Renderer - no contact shadows! 

In Manuel's tutorial, cranking up the Diffusion on the shadow seems to hide it well enough, so that's what I'd recommend in your case. Adjusting the timing of the actual page turn may also help hide this, since it's really only visible on those few frames when the page is on-edge to us. 

The Beta version of Ae has an additional new 3D rendering engine, which enables some new lighting & shadow behavior. You could certainly explore that as a solution as well, though it'll somewhat change the lighting setup from what Manuel does. 

1 reply

Kyle Hamrick
Community Expert
Kyle HamrickCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 14, 2023

Have you double-checked that your page's Anchor Point is right at the edge, and that it's actually touching the base of the book? I have to imagine there's still a gap there.

 

Especially since your page is tucked inside a pre-composition, it's easy to have your Anchor Point a little off, and even a few pixels will make the difference here. In case you're not aware, you can hold CTRL/CMD while dragging the Anchor Point to make sure it snaps to an edge. 

You also might try using some of the alternate 3d views, or create a secondary camera you can use to free-look at your scene and confirm everything is lined up as intended. 

C
Creative22188090x9f2Author
Inspiring
November 14, 2023

Hi Kyle! Thanks so much for your suggestions

I double checked that the anchor point is where is should be, and also used the CTRL to get it right on the edge (several times to make sure) and checked with the 3D view but it all looks aligned, I find this quite bizzare. Below is a screenshot following your advice, using a secondary camera to show the side view and top view (I hope this is what you meant)

I have checked each frame and that line seems to rest on that background throughout. (Sorry, the screenshots do look a bit different, I carried on working on this project a bit)

 

Kyle Hamrick
Community Expert
Kyle HamrickCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 14, 2023

Are you able to share the project file? I'm happy to take a look.

3D opens up a bit of a can of worms, and it might be easier to just explore it than making a bunch more suggestions without a ton of context. 🙂

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