… for Apple Motion

Tip #486: Add Drop Shadows to Text

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The secret to adding drop shadows is to add them to the group.

In Tip #475, I showed how to fill text with an animated background. In Tip #484, I showed how to put a background behind the filled text. Now, I want to show how to put a drop shadow on the text, because you can’t do it on the text itself.

Fill the Text

• Add text into a group.
• In the same group, put a background below the text that you want to fill the text.
• Change the Blend Mode for the text to Stencil Alpha.

Add the Background

• Create a new group and put it below the group containing the text.
• Put the background you want to put behind the text effect into this second group.
• Change the Blend Mode of the top group to Normal.

Add the Drop Shadows

• Select the group that contains the text.
• Go to Inspector > Properties, then enable and modify the drop shadow settings.

NOTE: If you try to apply a drop shadow to the text, it will disappear as soon as you change the blend mode.

EXTRA CREDIT

The screen shot shows the Inspector settings, plus the finished effect.