No cast shadows in Advanced 3d - AE 24.6.1

[AndrewTheGreat]

I was trying to animate a Google earth studio map with city names with shadows on it. Thus I discovered that After Effects 24.6.1 doesn't have cast shadows if the renderer is Advanced 3D. Am I wrong with the settings somewhere or in the Advanced 3D shadows are not cast at all?

See an example in the video. Only the classic 3D works. And the Classic 3D would have been fine but for it missing extrusions for layers, which I need and only the Advanced 3D does them

[Rick Gerard]

Open composition settings (Ctrl/Cmnd + K) and carefully read the descriptions in the 3D Renderer tab. Everything is explained there.

You will need to work around the limitations using a different workflow and maybe some pre-comps or wait for other features to be added to the different rendering engines. The rendering engines are also limited by GPU compatibility.

[AndrewTheGreat]

@Rick Gerard 

Thanks for your response. It appears ADVANCED 3D is not so advanced... 

You either have extrusions or lights and shadows. This is ridiculous...

So if shadows for non environment lights are off, then the environment light can cast shadows in advanced 3d, right?

[thepixelsmith]

Yes, environmental lighs can cast shadows in advanced 3d.

[AndrewTheGreat]

I couldn't make them cast shadows either. The situation is as follows: I have a Google Earth Studio map animation with landmarks via the google earth studio script file. So in result I get a camera flying above the map and three text layers following the land along. I'm sure you know how this works. What I need to do is to make the three landmarks (cities names) 3d that is extruded and at the same time cast a shadow onto the map. Basic 3D renderer does not have extrusions. Advanced 3D renderer has them but as it appeared it cannot cast shadows. Cinema 4D renderer has both but it does not hide the shadow catcher - the layer material options > Accept shadows > Only does not work. The layer remains visible. So how do I make an extruded object WITH a shadow? If I pre-compose it the layer becomes 2D with a 3D (extruded) image on it which cannot be rotated as a 3D object - just a 2D one. I really think Advanced 3D renderer needs to be improved, but meanwhile how can I achieve what I need? So I could only add shadow to a non extruded object that is a text

[thepixelsmith]

 

Environmental lights can definitely cast shadows.

Did you make a 3D shadow catcher layer to recieve the shadows and switch it to Accept Shadows Only?

It would need to be parallel to the plane of the google earth image's ground but it should work.

I usually just use a white solid for that.

This example is using both an imported 3d Model and extruded/beveled text and casting the shadow onto a solid that has been rotated to 90 degrees to form the floor.

Maybe there is a problem with the rotation properties of the environmental light layer?

[AndrewTheGreat]

Don't know what is going on. I created a new AE project and there Environment lights really cast shadows. In my Google earth studio project created via the google script file the shadows just don't work in the advanced 3D...

See yourself. Can you guess what is wrong? See the video - all the options for the light text and the shadow catcher are set

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1krgRO7O4KSdNM6KcHOcusQtOGyxMsVuB/view?usp=sharing

[Ben30866796b4td]

I feel like I'm going crazy because I have the exact same issues. All the appropriate cast/receive shadow settings are enabled. Light is set to environmental (and I've tried all the others). All my 3D layers receive light correctly, and the light falls off as expected when turning away from the light source. But even when I place an object directly between my light source and my 3D layer, it still receives light.

I'm on a GeForce RTX 2060, so I doubt it's hardware related.

[thepixelsmith]

@Ben30866796b4td Was this composition created from scratch or was it created by some kind of third party script?

[Ben30866796b4td]

@thepixelsmith No it was created manually, but I managed to resolve the issue by updating my graphics drivers... can't believe I didn't try that first. Appreciate your effort to help though! 😊

[thepixelsmith]

Cool. Glad it worked out.