Is is possible to clip a drop shadow to apply only in a specific area?

[Alex273321332rpo]

I want to recreate this drop shadow where it cuts off (clips) when outside this triangle. Does anyone know how to do this?

[Monika Gause]

You could expand the Appearance and then apply a clipping mask to your shadow

[Alex273321332rpo]

Interesting - could you kindly explain how to add a clipping mask to a drop shadow? I'm not aware of how to do this. Thanks!

[Jacob Bugge]

Alex,

I always suggest that whenever you are about to do something destructive, such as expanding an object with a Drop Shadow, always keep a backup of the original artwork to fall back on, if you ever need to edit; an edit can be anything from changeing letters/words down to improvements of (small) details.

This is the reason for my suggesting the auxiliary Group which works without doing anything to the original artwork; if you wish to change it, you can just do so, and create a new auxiliary Group if needed.

Apart from that, it seems that you have Drop Shadows on both OverPoweR and CardGames, so you would need to apply the Clipping Mask(s) to both.

One way to use a Clipping Mask could be to:

1) Create a copy of both the OverPoweR and CardGames objects to the very front,

2) Remove the Drop Shadows from the original instances,

3) Create a copy of the triangle at the very front (and expand it if it a stroked path) and Unite it, or if applicable just create a new path with the Pen Tool following the outer shape and snapping to the corner Anchor Points (Smart Guides are your friends);

4) Select the new top triangle along with the OverPoweR and CardGames objects from 1) and Ctrl/Cmd+7 to create the Clipping Mask/Set.

[Jacob Bugge]

Alex,

Whichever contents/structure your artwork has, before applying the Drop Shadow, you can:

1) Group everything and make a copy of it, then hide the original Group,

2) Select the new Group and turn evything fully black,

3) Hide the new black Group, then show and select the original Group and Ungroup it,

4) Apply the Drop Shadow,

5) Show the black copy Group, then select everything,

6) In the Transparency panel click Make (Opacity) Mask with both Clip and Invert Mask ticked,

7( Enjoy the clipping of the Drop Shadow.

[Kurt Gold]

Here is another approach that uses the Colour Burn blend mode.

Cardgame (Illustrator sample file)