Adding a Drop Shadow

The DropShadow gizmo allows you to create a drop shadow for any input image that has an alpha channel with values greater than 0. To add a drop shadow an image:

1.

Select Filter > DropShadow to insert a DropShadow gizmo after your image Read node.

2.

Connect your background image to the DropShadow gizmo's bg input. Your image and drop shadow are merged over the background image.

3.

In the DropShadow gizmo properties, check enable drop shadow to enable the drop shadow effect.

with drop shadow disabled	with drop shadow enabled

4.

If you want the drop shadow to be the same color as the input image, enable inherit input color.

Otherwise, use the color controls to select a color for the drop shadow.

with black selected	with the inherited input color

5.

Use opacity to adjust the opacity of the drop shadow relative to the input's alpha channel.

Opacity set to 0.4	Opacity set to 0.8

6.

To adjust the direction of the shadow, use the angle slider. A value of 0 or 360 equals left direction.

Angle set to 0 (or 360)	Angle set to 225

7.

Use distance to set the distance of the shadow from the input content.

Distance set to 5	Distance set to 15

8.

If you want to blur the shadow, increase the softness value.

Softness set to 0	Softness set to 10

9.

If necessary, set the shrink/expand slider to a negative value to erode the shadow or a positive value to dilate it.

Shrink/expand set to 0	Shrink/expand set to 3.5

10.

Use the input [operation] bg dropdown menu to select how you want to combine the input and bg inputs.