How do you make the drop shadow on a rectangle less opaque?

Help from Community
#1

Do you have to bind the value of the shadow to another object, and if so, what’s a good way to go about that? I’d like to reduce the shadow’s opacity to 25%. I’ve tried binding it to a 25% opacity rectangle, but that didn’t seem to do anything.

The rectangle I’m using is animated, so I’m trying to avoid hiding a 25% opacity rectangle with a drop shadow and then triggering it’s visibility under the top rectangle to get that effect, because it will be one of a couple dozen animated rectangles that all need faint drop shadows.

If anyone has achieved this effect, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

#2

Hi @cullenb !

Unfortunately, there is no way to change the opacity in the Shadow property of a rectangle Shape Asset.

I still recommend you to go with another rectangle shape positioned below the original one. I understand your concerns when it comes to animate these and there is a couple of solutions.

The first option would be to bind your “shadow” rectangle X/Y/width/height and orientation properties to the ones of the rectangle above, while using a math converter on X and Y to simulate the shadow offset, see below, with a value à 30 pixels.

image
image1723×1611 189 KB

Going this way, you will be able to apply animation to the original rectangle, and the shadow will just “follow”, but notice the offset won’t be proportional to size as it’s a fixed value from converter.

The other option, quicker, is to put your rectangle and the “shadow” rectangle below in a Group, then just use your animations on the Group itself. Please note the 2 rectangles inside the group should have their container properties set to “Resize”, like this:

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Here is an animated sample with these 2 options, the “binding” one on the red rectangle on top, the “group” one, on the green rectangle at the bottom.

rectangle-shadow

Best regards,

Alex.

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#3

Ah, great solution. Thank you, Alex! You’re a wizard.

I hope you like wizards. Some people don’t, but I think they’re pretty great.

#4

Could be Gandalf, Raistlin Majere, Belgarath, Merlin or Elminster, I :heart: :heart: :heart: them, thanks!
(40 years of tabletop RPG and fantasy reading…)

Let’s not forget one of Arthur C. Clarke laws :wink:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

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