AE Shadow problem with live action footage agains Green Screen

[Daniel Raebiger]

Hey Guys,

i have a shot of a guy walking shot against green screen. i'd like to replace the background and floor and cast some nifty shadows on it.

I've set up a white solid, made it 3D, then rotated it flat on the x axis and then adjusted the camaera to match the background image. then i've aligned the y position of the greenscreen footage so that it sits right on top of the white solid. then i've added a light and enabled the shadows in AE but for some reason the shadows that are being cast in AE do not originate right where the foot of the actor is, but a few pixels away.

is there a way to prevent this?

thanks!

[Steve Kalle]

For shadows, I usually duplicate the keyed layer, turn the layer to black and skew & rotate it to make it look like a shadow. Works every time and is very simple.

[Daniel Raebiger]

that's a neat trick! i'll try it today!

[Robert Turchick]

That's the way I do it too. Much easier to control.

[Daniel Raebiger]

Hm but you cannot have shadows from objects reflect on other objects or dynamically change the shadows by moving a light :(