| Perspective Shadow in PI 4.2 | |
A perspective shadow can add a lot of depth and 3-dimensionality to your images. The fastest and easiest way to do this is to use Alien Skin's Eye Candy Perspective Shadow Filter. But, not everyone can afford this filter. A perspective shadow can be easily created in PhotoImpact 4.2 without using any add-on filters.
1.
Open a new image with plenty of space to work on. We are going
to be working with text, so select your text tool, at a large
enough size to work with, and type a word.
2.
Right click on your text and select "Duplicate". You should
now have two objects with your text on them.
3. Select one of your text objects. Go to Edit-->Convert Object Type-->From Text to Image.
4. Using your bucket tool, flood fill the selected text with black. Right click and choose "Properties". In the dialog box that comes up, you will want to set the soft edge to 3-5, depending on how large your image is and how blurry you want it to be. You will also want to set your transparency to 30-50%, depending on how dark you want the shadow to be. Play around with these options.
5.
Now that you have the shadow looking like you want it, select
your transform tool (5th tool from the top on the toolbar, looks
like a small grid) and the perspective option.
6.
Now, place your mouse over the top left corner dot on your image
and drag it towards the center of your image. The two top corners
should come together. You can change the height also to make
the shadow longer. Do not change the bottom buttons!
7. When you have the shadow looking like you want it, drag it and line up the bottom of the shadow with the bottom of your original text. In the layers manager, make sure the shadow layer is underneath your text layer.
8. You can now right click and merge, but I like to jazz up the original text some. Select your text tool and the original text layer. You can now do anything you want to your text. To apply some filters, you may have to use the Edit-->Convert Object Type-->From Text to Image. To compare this tutorial with the Eye Candy Effect, I have created the right image below with Eye Candy perspective shadow, and the left image in this tutorial.
The following image was made using the Transform-->Distort selection. Play around to get the effect you want.
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