Instructions on placing text and shadow in the drone shot

In this tutorial, I will show you how to place a text in a drone shot in After Effects and create realistic shadows behind this text. We will proceed step by step to ensure that you truly understand and apply the techniques and tools you need. Whether it's your text, the light, or the shadows - I will guide you through each phase of the process to help you achieve an appealing end product.

Key Takeaways

• Creating simple shadows can be done by simple duplication and color changes.
• More realistic shadows require the use of light sources and special shadow receiver layers.
• The position and parameters of light and shadows must be carefully adjusted to achieve the desired effect.

Step-by-Step Guide

Let's start with the first method of shadow creation. To begin, simply duplicate the existing text unit.

Then rotate it 90 degrees towards the ground. Change the color of the duplicated text to black.

Now you will see that a kind of shadow is already forming. Reduce the opacity to about 60% to make the shadow look more realistic.

If you feel that the shadow is not deep enough, you can adjust the scaling. First, release the proportions to scale the X, Y, and Z axes separately.

Scale the shadow in the Y-axis backwards to stretch it further and align it in a more realistic direction.

Since in our example the shadow of the tree cannot be reproduced simply by scaling or rotating, we now need to add a light source to help us. To do this, delete the existing shadow and add a new light source.

Go to "Layer" and select "New" and then "Light". Here, you have the option to choose different types of lights. For this tutorial, we will use a point light.

Activate the "Cast Shadows" option.

Although the text has now changed somewhat, the light is not yet visible. Open the position settings (press 'P') to check the light position and move it close to the text.

With the light closer to the text, you will see its effect on the text. However, in After Effects, it can be tricky to control the light. A useful trick is to create a camera and link its position to that of the light.

Now, the question arises as to where the shadow of the text should fall. So far, we have created a composition that does not allow After Effects to interpret a 3D plane - so we need to help a bit. Create a 3D solid in the composition.

As you adjust the solid, you will see shadows falling on it. Place it in the scene so that it matches the desired shadow layout.

The light has now cast a shadow on the color surface, but to make sure we have everything set correctly, we need to check the material options of the text layer. Make sure that the option "Casts Shadows" and "Receives Shadows" are active.

To better integrate the shadow into the scene, you can now delete the text layer and use the 3D camera tracker with the drone shot. Right-click to create shadow catchers and light.

Now two new layers should have been added: a light source and a "depth catcher" that only receives shadows. These colors can now be adjusted to fit the scene.

To position the shadow more accurately, you should experiment with the light's position parameters. Keep the shadow's alignment in mind so that it matches that of the tree.

Play with the X and Y values to properly place the shadow and adjust the Z value accordingly to make it look good.

Once you have optimized the light's position and the shadow layer, you can also darken the text to increase the contrast with the shadow and round off the overall result.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned how to place text in a drone shot, add shadows, and precisely adjust both light and shadows to achieve a realistic result. Key steps include working with light sources and special shadow catcher technology in After Effects.