Making a drop shadow

The original camera picture included a shadow cast to the right of the camera. When you erased the background in the previous section, you also erased this shadow. In this section, you will create and position a new shadow in the shape of the camera.

There are a couple of ways you could create the shadow. You could trace the outline with the freehand shapes tool. Or you could, as described in this section, use a copy of the cropped camera image.

To create a copy of the cropped camera image:

Make sure that the tutorial canvas is displayed.
Select effects(TM)cut.
The cut tool is displayed.
In the cut tool:

select shape(TM)rectangle
click uniform off
click create
Because the background is transparent, the rectangular cutout will include only the camera.

With the mouse button released, click and drag the pointer to create a rectangle around the camera. Click to finish the rectangle.

If needed, you can use the handles on the outline tool to adjust the rectangle around the camera.

Click cut.

VizPaint2D places the cutout in a canvas called cut_2.
A swatch of the cutout appears in the cut tool.

Select picture(TM)create.

The create tool is displayed.

In the name text box, enter temp_1.

Click ok.

A blank canvas named temp_1 appears on the VizPaint2D screen.

Select paste-up(TM)paste.

A list shows the canvases available to paste.

Click cut_2 to select it for pasting.

The paste tool shows the cut_2 swatch. A shaded outline tool appears in the canvas.

Using the outline tool handles, position the cutout in the center of the canvas.

Click paste in the paste tool.

The cutout is pasted on the blank canvas.

To create the drop shadow:

Select paint(TM)shapes.
The shapes tool is displayed. You will use the shapes tool to paint the cutout gray. You could also do this with the fill tool.
In the shapes tool:

select shape(TM)rectangle
click uniform off
select mode(TM)atop
click create

Tip: Atop mode draws only where there is an existing layer of pixels. Here you will be creating a copy of the camera.

	Tip: Atop mode draws only where there is an existing layer of pixels. Here you will be creating a copy of the camera.

Click and drag the pointer creating a rectangle surrounding the camera. Click to finish the rectangle.

Click and drag on the top button of the palette tool. Release on block.

The block palette tool is displayed.

Select a dark gray from the right side of the block palette.

If the shapes fill tool is not displayed, click the fill modify button.

The shapes fill tool is displayed.

In the shapes fill tool:

· click on the shapes fill color selector to activate it

The camera is covered by a layer of gray as shown in figure 83.

Figure 83 Making a drop shadow

To paste the shadow:

Select effects(TM)cut.
The cut tool is displayed. The outline tool is displayed on the canvas in the same position as the last cut operation.
Click cut.
VizPaint2D creates another cutout and puts it in a canvas named cut_3.
Select effects(TM)select.
A list of available canvases and their corresponding swatches are displayed.
Click tutorial in the list or click in the center of the tutorial swatch.
The tutorial canvas has an intact version of the camera. This is where you'll be pasting the camera shadow cutout.
Select paste-up(TM)paste.
A list shows the canvases available to paste.
Click cut_3 to select it for pasting.
The paste tool shows the cut_3 swatch. A shaded outline tool appears on the canvas.
Use the fine adjustment tool to position the shadow as follows:

in the x loc text box, enter 115
in the y loc text box, enter 50
The shadow moves down and to the right of the camera. If you want, use the outline tool handles to fine-tune the shadow's position.

In the paste tool:

select mode(TM)under
set the opacity to 70
click paste
The reduced opacity setting creates a softer, more realistic shadow.

VizPaint2D pastes the shadow beneath the camera. See figure 84 for an example of what the canvas should look like.

Figure 84 Camera with drop shadow

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