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AndrewTheGreat
AndrewTheGreat
Known Participant
September 5, 2024
Question

No cast shadows in Advanced 3d - AE 24.6.1

  • September 5, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 10153 views

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

2 replies

K
Adobe Employee
Kim Pimmel
Adobe Employee
February 19, 2025

I had this same problem with not being able to see shadows for 3d objects on my shadow catcher (with all light/shadow settings correctly set, and shadow catcher and lights oriented correctly as suggested in numerous forum posts)

I was able to get my shadows to show for an Advanced 3D comp - for Environmental Lights only- by going into Composition Settings, Options for Advanced 3D, then selecting the 'Fit to Scene' button for Casting Box Size/Center.  This changed the values in those boxes and then my scene's shadows became visible.

Hope this helps someone else with the same issue.

    T
    Thetope
    Inspiring
    April 27, 2025

    Hello, I have a problem with the casting box position, the value of the Z does not go beyond 30000 and it place the box like this when I click on Fit to Scene. I can't moove the box behond so I can't see the shadow of my car deeper into my scene, I do a lot of search but I have no answer to how fix this box problem.

    ShiveringCactus
    Community Expert
    ShiveringCactusCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 28, 2025

    Can you make your shadow catcher a child of the 3D object, then set its position to 0,0,0 and then move it from there?

    R
    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 5, 2024

    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
    AndrewTheGreatAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 6, 2024

    @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?

    Stop trying to edit and EDIT!
    thepixelsmith
    Community Expert
    thepixelsmithCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 6, 2024

    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

     


     

    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?

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