Lights in After Effects also have the ability to cast shadows. For shadows to happen, you need a few things:

•A light anabled to cast shadows

•A 3D layer to cast the shadows

•A 3D layer to receive shadows that is farther away from the light than the layer casting the shadows.

1) Create a new composition. Create a new solid layer, text layer, and light layer.

2) In the light settings dialog, set the Light Type to Point and Intensity to 100%. Enable the Casts Shadows option, and for now set Shadow Darkness to 50% and Shadow Diffusion to 0 pixels. Click OK, and a new Light layer will be added to your comp. The illumination of the layers will change, but no shadows will be visible yet. By default, layers can receive shadows, but do not cast them. This is because shadows require a ot of computing power, and After Effects dows not want to slow you down if you didn't want them.

3) Turn your solid and text layer into 3D layers by clicking on the little cube in the timeline. If your layers are still 2D, After Effects may prompt you with a message to point you in the right direction.

4) Select the text layer and type AA to reveal its materials options. The very first parameter is Casts Shadows. Click on OFF to toggle it to On: The shortcut to toggle shados on and off is Alt/Option + Shift + C.

5) If you set the Casts Shadows to Only, then it will show only the shadow and not the original layer. With Casts Shadows on, if you scrub the Light Transmission parameter  to 0%, then the shadow will be black. At 100%, the shadow will be the color of the layer casting the shadow.


6) To adjust the shadows, just move the light's position closer or farther from the text. You can also press R on the solid's layer to reveal it's Orientaion and Rotation properties. Scrub its X or Y Rotation values to tilt it in relation to the layer casting the shadow. The shadow will be angled too.

7) If you want to go back and adjust the light properties, press AA (two A's in quick succession) to reveal it's Light Options. You can control how soft the shadow is with the Shadow Diffusion Parameter and how dark the shadow is with the Shadow Darkness parameter.

Shadows enhance the realism of the scene and are a great graphical element. Be sure to remember that they may slow down your render time some though.