Bevel Alpha Effect; Bevel Edges Effect; Drop Shadow Effect - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0
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User Guide

Bevel Alpha effect

The Bevel Alpha effect gives a chiseled and lighted appearance to the alpha boundaries of an image, often giving 2D
elements a 3D appearance. If the layer's alpha channel is completely opaque, the effect is applied to the bounding box
of the layer. The edge created in this effect is somewhat softer than that of the Bevel Edges effect. This effect works
especially well for elements with text in the alpha channel.
This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.
Original (left), and with effect applied (right)

Bevel Edges effect

The Bevel Edges effect gives a chiseled and lighted 3D appearance to the edges of an image. Edge locations are deter-
mined by the alpha channel of the source image. Unlike Bevel Alpha, the edges created in this effect are always
rectangular, so images with nonrectangular alpha channels do not produce the proper appearance. All edges have
the same thickness. Best quality calculates the thickness of the chiseled area; the edge thickness is interpolated with
smooth visual results.
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Original (left), and with effect applied (right)

Drop Shadow effect

The Drop Shadow effect adds a shadow that appears behind the layer.
When you add a drop shadow to an object, a soft-edged duplicate shape of the object is displayed behind the object,
making it appear that a shadow is being cast on the background or any underlying objects. The shape of the shadow
is determined by the layer's alpha channel. Drop Shadow can create a shadow outside the bounds of the layer;
however, memory requirements for this effect grow as the distance setting increases. The layer's quality setting affects
the subpixel positioning of the shadow and the smoothness of the shadow's soft edges. It works well with footage files
from 3D rendering programs and drawing programs that support the alpha channel. If you want to render the
shadow without the image, select Shadow only.
Note: To apply a drop shadow to a layer that rotates, rotate the layer using the Transform effect and then apply the Drop
Shadow effect. You can also use nesting, precomposing, or an adjustment layer to achieve this effect. If you do not use
one of these methods, the shadow rotates with the layer.
This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.