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Creating shadows in a vector drawing package such as Adobe
Illustrator can be a little bit more difficult than in a raster graphics program
such as Photoshop. In this tutorial we will create a perspective drop
shadow from scratch, using no filters or plug-ins. This effect is
remarkably flexible and lends itself to a great deal of individualization, an
example of which will be shown at the end.
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Step
1: Open up Adobe Illustrator and create a blank document of any size.
With the text tool, write some text in a bold typeface and a solid visual
colour. Typefaces with strong edges and flat bases always work best
for shadows, and script-style fonts usually end up with disappointing
results. After you are finished, select your text with the selection tool.

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Step
2: Pick out the Reflect Tool, hold down ALT on the keyboard and click on
the light blue line at the bottom of your type object (i.e. the line on
which your text should be sitting, NOT the line of the bounding box below
that). In the dialog box that appears, choose Horizontal, 0°,
and click on the Copy button. You should now have a reflected
text object directly below your original text object. If your
reflection is not lined up like mine, now is the best time to adjust it
accordingly. After you are finished, select the reflected text
object with your selection tool and run Type > Create Outlines from
the main menu. This breaks apart the object into individual vectors,
and is necessary to complete the next step.
NB. Please note that if you are using a Mac, you will hold
down the OPTION key instead of the ALT key wherever it is mentioned during
this tutorial.

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Step
3: Now for the difficult bit. Get your Free Transform Tool, click
on a bottom corner, then without letting go or moving your mouse, hold down
CTRL+SHIFT+ALT on the keyboard. Now drag out the mouse horizontally to
create your perspective. This takes a little practice, as well
as nimble fingers!

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Step
4: Load up the Gradient Palette (F9), ensure Linear is selected, as well
as a -90° angle, and a black to white gradient. Now select your reflection
properly with the selection tool, and drag a vertical gradient across the
selected text using the Gradient Tool. |
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Step
5: And there you have it - a perspective drop shadow! Minor
adjustments to the gradient are easy at this stage, and can include lowering
the opacity, or adding a little more skew to the shadow using the free
transform tool and the direct select tool.

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Variations: Adobe Illustrator has a vast wealth of
filters to help you individualize your perspective shadows. In my
example below I have simply applied Effect > Distort & Transform >
Roughen, fiddled with the gradient, altered the blending mode, and
lowered the opacity to obtain a simple water-reflected effect. The
possibilities are quite endless and only limited by your imagination and
willingness to fiddle around with the thousands of different settings and
features that Illustrator provides. Have fun! ;)

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- Tutorial written by Man1c M0g
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