6 Replies Latest reply: Jun 12, 2012 12:59 PM by Larry G. Schneider RSS

    Is there a way to change drop shadow thickness?

    avpromedia Community Member

      In illustrator CS4, the stylize>drop shadow dialog does not have any options to increase the thickness of the drop shadow.

       

      I need a thicker drop shadow to surround some text to get more separation between the text and the background.

       

      A brute force method is to duplicate the text, make it thicker, blur it, then put it behind the original text. I'm hoping there's a more convenient way.

        • 1. Re: Is there a way to change drop shadow thickness?
          Jacob Bugge CommunityMVP

          avpromedia,

           

          If I understand it in the right way, the long answer is no.

           

          But it would indeed be conceivable to have a shadow that was larger than what casts it, as is seen with something close to the light source in real life.

           

          You may:

           

          1) Create the whole thing in oversize so that the shadow has the right size (keep a copy before the following destruction),

          2) Object>Expand Appearance (the Drop Shadow will become an image),

          3) Direct select the Type (or other object) and reduce its size.

           

          You may move either if needed.

          • 2. Re: Is there a way to change drop shadow thickness?
            Monika Gause CommunityMVP

            You could create that using effects.

             

            Make a second fill for the text in the appearance panel and move it behind the text.

            Then apply the effect Offset path

            then blur it or whatever you like to do. In case you also want to move it in relation to the original text, apply the transform effect.

            • 3. Re: Is there a way to change drop shadow thickness?
              sammy.g.taylor

              As much as I love AI, I'm absolutely baffled by the fact that there's no size setting for the drop shadow.  In fact, in Illustrator there's no size, noise, or curve customization on either drop shadow or outer glow — yet all of these features, which work perfectly with vector graphics, are present in PhotoShop.  Is it just me or does that seem utterly backwards?  I hate to come on here and complain because I really do adore both pieces of software and use them every day for a living, but sometimes stuff like this really confuses me.  Would it just be too much of a hassle for Adobe to import these features from PS into AI?  Would AI become too cumbersome a piece of software if it could do this stuff?

               

              It would also be really nice if AI had a linking feature like PS.  Not grouping, linking.

               

              </endrant>

              • 4. Re: Is there a way to change drop shadow thickness?
                Mordy Golding CommunityMVP

                Have you tried adding two or three drop shaodws to your text? I find that simply overlapping multiple drop shadows can help me get a stronger appearance.

                 

                Mordy

                • 5. Re: Is there a way to change drop shadow thickness?
                  Wade_Zimmerman Community Member

                  I agree with you it is kind of stupid that AI does not have a tool to have more control over the drop shadow as well as othe options such as angles for making cast shadows or lighting effects associated with the shadows.

                   

                  It is way too old fashion.

                  • 6. Re: Is there a way to change drop shadow thickness?
                    Larry G. Schneider CommunityMVP

                    You really should look into doing it with Effects as Monica suggests. You can add a new stroke and move it below the Contents line in the Appearance panel or add a new fill below the Contents line and use the Convert to Shape to make that fill a larger rectangle or circle which will block out the background like this:

                     

                    Screen shot 2012-06-12 at 12.58.46 PM.png