SHADOW ON MOHO

[franktdigiart]

I need to create shadows but it doesn't work.
I click on the character folder and then on the shadows tab. There, I go to the 3d shadow (animated) section and set the scale and shear values. I want the shadow to be in front of the character because the sun is behind his back. But it seems that moho doesn't allow a value to put the shadow in that position. How to do it? I put the point of origin under his feet, what are the values to put to place shadow projected forward to the character? shadow on the floor. Thanks!

[SimplSam]

So... a technique that is normally used to have more control over the shadow - is to:
- duplicate (reference layer) your character
- make the duplicate 'shaded'
- skew, position, scale your shadow as you wish

An example video:

https://youtu.be/Z8c85V6Gcv0?t=270 -- @ 04:30

[franktdigiart]

I tried this method but when I go to create a copy of the character, go to rotate it, and flip it vertically, the shadow is hard to match under his feet, it is not real.

I would like to use the method in the shadow 3d tab because it sets a shadow automatically, I just need to put it in front of the character on the ground but in the shear value I can't get it any lower than -10 I don't know if it only happens to me

[Greenlaw]

I second Sam's suggestion. Either method is essentially the same 'cheat' effect for cast shadows, but with a Reference layer, you can see the result live in the Workspace. For example...



In this case, I made a Reference copy of the rig, and rolled it backward on the X axis for the 3D perspective effect. Then, I used Shear and Transform to align the shadow more accurately to the feet.

To finish the look, I used the Colorize Layer option to turn the shadow copy solid black, and then I dropped the opacity. This way, if there were background art in this image, it would show through the shadow.

Here's what the setup looks like from a 3D angle using the Orbit tool...



If I were to do this for actual production work, I might apply a mesh warp or the Magnet tool to improve the alignment. Also, I would set the shadow to Multiply over the background art. This helps make the shadow look more convincing.

I hope this helps.

There are many ways to create convincing cast shadow effects. Which one I'll use depends on the given situation. (There is too much to get into here, so I'll add shadow effects to my list of tutorial ideas and discuss this with my producer.)

[Greenlaw]

Also, aligning the shadow's origin with the bottom of the feet is helpful. This makes editing the angle of the layer more controllable.

[Greenlaw]

I forgot to mention something: the Referenced shadow layer should be transformed on frame 1 to align with the original layer.

Everything else in the Reference will automatically follow the original layer's keyframes. Be sure to edit only the original and not the reference. (I typically insert [REF] before my Reference layer's name to alert me because I don't always notice the icon.)

[franktdigiart]

I thank you for your answers. I did some testing for my project and I did it like this: I created a duplicate of the folder where the character is, I did all the animations first, after that I rotated it and inclined it a little bit, then I did colorize layer in multiply mode, a cool medium gray. Then I fixed some frames with 2d mesh. and blur radius 40%.
It's only about 40 sec of animation but with a lot of details, shadows, masks, animated layer order. If you are interested I will post it one day on IN frankturriart

[Greenlaw]

Sounds good! I look forward to seeing it!

As a 2D animator with a 3D animation and VFX background, coming up with techniques for interactive shadows and lighting is an interesting topic for me.

In 2D animation, it's been more about developing convincing tricks for simulating 3D lighting effects. Curiously, there are situations where the more 'real' I make the shadow effect, the more distracting it becomes, and I have to pull back and simplify the effect. The uncanny valley applies to shadows, too, I guess.

A few years ago, I had to design and build a character for Boss Baby that was literally Timmy's shadow. That rig was fun to figure out, especially for scenes where the shadow-Timmy changed its projection angle across corners. You can see a few scenes of this character in my 2019 demo reel. (Skip to around 1:21) (Note: the shadow was animated by Flori Duhau using my rig.)