Apple Motion 3 - Manual (Page 310)

310 Chapter 3 Basic Compositing
They create the illusion of depth, with the result that the foreground object seems to
pop out at the viewer. For this reason, drop shadows are frequently used to create the
impression of space between two overlapping objects.
Drop shadows also darken overlapping regions of background objects. A good
example of when to use this is when you place text over a background that might
obscure it. By adding a drop shadow, you can make a foreground text object easier to
read.
It’s easy to add a drop shadow to any object, since each object has individual drop
shadow parameters in the Inspector and HUD. Once activated, drop shadows can also
be manipulated directly in the Canvas.
Important: Text objects have additional drop shadow parameters, located in the Style
pane of the Text tab. For more information about text object drop shadows, see
“
Adding a Drop Shadow ” on page 621.
Without a drop shadow With a drop shadow