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Known Participant
July 30, 2026
Answered

Shadow in Advance 3d Flicking

  • July 30, 2026
  • 8 replies
  • 75 views

I'm having an issue with shadows when 3D objects are animated using Advanced 3D renderer and an Environment Light in After Effects. When the objects move, the shadow stutters/jumps instead of animating smoothly, even though all rendering settings in the Advanced 3D menu are set to maximum."

    Correct answer Nishu Kushwaha

    @Valentin5C40

    I heard back from the engineering team — this is a resolution issue with the shadow casting box. Here's what's happening: shadows in Advanced 3D are calculated within a bounding "casting box." That box has a fixed shadow-map resolution, so if the box is large, the resolution spreads thin and shadows step/jitter as objects move.

    The fix is to shrink the casting box so it covers only the shadow-casting geometry, not the whole scene. Here's how:

    1. Hide everything except the pink rectangles (the actual shadow casters).
    2. In the renderer settings, click "Fit to scene". This shrinks the casting box to the exact dimensions of the visible geometry.
    3. Unhide the rest of your scene.

    One counter-intuitive detail worth calling out: the casting box only needs to include the objects that are casting shadows, not the surfaces the shadows are landing on. So a small box around your rectangles is fine even if your ground plane extends much further.

    Give that a try and let me know how it looks.

     

    Thanks,

    Nishu

    8 replies

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    July 30, 2026

    Hi Valentin, thanks for the report and GIF.

    Try increasing the Quality and Smoothness in the Renderer Options. Here's how: https://adobe.ly/4fHZt1I

    Note: Increasing Quality and Smoothness increases the render time.

    Let me know how it goes.


    Thanks,

    Nishu

    Known Participant
    August 5, 2026

    Everything is set to maximum, both the shadow and the 3D object quality. I found that if the rectangle or phone stands straight vertically, the shadow jitters heavily, but if I tilt it a little, this effect gets smoothed out a bit. So, the issue is somewhere here

    Nishu Kushwaha
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    August 5, 2026

    That’s not ideal. Do you mind sharing the project file (with media) with me for testing? It’ll be easier to report this to the product team that way. Feel free to share it via DM if you prefer not to share publicly.

    Looking forward to your response.

     

    Thanks,

    Nishu