In this example, I’ve not only skewed the shadows upward along the sides, I’ve also used a very slight gradient in the layer mask to make the shadow fade a bit as it extends backward along the sides of the pillars. To finish the effect, I can individually select and transform the parts of the drop shadow that fall on the “sides” of the pillars. With the selection active, we can fill with white to reveal those areas on the drop shadow’s layer. When it’s active, a double-box appears around the thumbnail.) (The layer mask thumbnail appears to the right of a layer’s thumbnail in the Layers palette. Note, however, that the drop shadow’s layer mask is still the active layer in the Layers palette. Once you’ve made your selection, click inside and drag until you find an area of the adjacent background that matches closely enough to the texture you want. Drag a selection around the shadowed area you want to remove. That makes a selection of the layer’s content. Click the layer you want to modify and then click the Patch tool. To do that, we can Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) on the Layers palette thumbnail for the layer below. Next, we’ll reveal the drop shadow only where we want it to fall. In this case, the menu command Layer> Add Layer Mask> Hide All is appropriate, which adds a layer mask that’s completely filled with black. To edit the drop shadow, we’ll use a layer mask rather than simply erasing the unwanted areas of the drop shadow. This not only keeps the bevel as a “live” effect that can be updated, it simplifies the Layers palette and prevents any unwanted misalignment of elements. In a normal workflow, I would apply the drop shadow, use the Create Layers command, then apply the bevel as a layer effect to the original Layer 1. NOTE: For the purposes of this tutorial, I used the Create Layers command after applying a drop shadow and a bevel.
![drop shadows from photoshop to after effects drop shadows from photoshop to after effects](https://data.designervn.net/2019/01/6747_96ee19b1c705f8364dc66aa24d5a8f05.jpg)
![drop shadows from photoshop to after effects drop shadows from photoshop to after effects](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ec/b3/40/ecb340def903f2492bbfc03deb590bf6.png)
This prevents accidental misalignment of the elements, which could lead to an unwanted (but rather interesting) mis-registration effect. From how to add a drop shadow in Photoshop to how to do a drop shadow on text in Photoshop, Im going to show you all that you need to know in order to start using the layer style effect. Also observe that immediately after creating the layers, I linked them to the original Layer 1. In the Layers palette, note that the new layer “Layer 1’s Drop Shadow” was created below the original layer, while the shadows and highlights of the bevel were added above the original layer. If in fact the image’s appearance changes, you can use Edit> Undo to restore the layer style.) (You’ll generally be notified that some aspects of layer styles cannot be retained through the conversion. Using the menu command Image> Layer Style> Create Layers, we can convert the layer style elements in to actual pixel-bearing layers. We’ll need to convert the drop shadow layer effect into an actual layer and then mask (or erase) the areas of the shadow that should not be visible.Īs you can see in the layers palette, this artwork consists of three layers: The top object, with both a Drop Shadow and a Bevel and Emboss applied as a layer style a middle layer that contains the four “pillars ” and a Background layer with a “sky.” In this example, the shadow of the foreground object should fall on the “pillars” but not on the “sky” behind. You’ll need to convert the drop shadow layer effect to a layer of its own, then edit that layer.
![drop shadows from photoshop to after effects drop shadows from photoshop to after effects](http://www.wikihow.com/images/5/5d/Add-a-Drop-Shadow-in-Photoshop-Elements-Step-15.jpg)
Perhaps the shadow should fall on the content of the layer immediately below, but not the layer below that. The Stroke Layer Style lets you specifcy "Inside," "Outside," and "Center" for alignment, unlike the Shape Layer Stroke.Sometimes a drop shadow needs to fall on only part of the layer or layers below. You can easily outline a raster layer since you can't put a Shape Layer stroke around it. If you want to scale or rotate a layer with a shadow and have it look accurate, or as Adirai mentioned, use the Global Light property, then the Layer Style is best.Īnother Layer Style to look at is Stroke. Knowing both of these will help you to decide what's the best tool to use. However, if you scale or rotate the layer with the Layer Style on it you'll see the shadow reacts more naturally, as if there was actually a light cast on the layer creating a real shadow.īecause of the ease of access and flexibility, I would reccomend sticking with effects, but be aware of the different Layer Styles and understand how the rendering order affects these things. If you scale or rotate the layer with the effect you'll see that the shadow is fixed to the layer, which isn't natural. On a duplicate of that same layer add the Drop Shadow Layer Style. On a raster (non-vector) layer add a Drop Shadow effect. Aside from Photoshop compatibility, though, Layer Styles do present some benefits. You can reorder them, mask them, and access them in the Effects Controls panel. In general I stick with effects because overall there's more flexibility.