Drop Shadow Controls

The interactive controls for the native Drop Shadow live effect consist of two sliders and a positioning arm extending from the center circle, along with a dropdown menu and a color chip:

Stylism Drop Shadow Controls

A. Shadow Offset

The position of the small “ball” at the end of the shadow position arm in relation to the center circle reflects the offset of the drop shadow. When the cursor is hovering over the control, the current X and Y offsets are displayed. Dragging the control will update the shadow offset after the mouse button is released. The two sliders will rotate with the shadow offset control.

Stylism Drop Shadow Position Control

While dragging the shadow offset control, in addition to the common keypresses (see Stylism Annotated Controls and Common Drag Keypresses), the following keypresses can be used:

Shift: Constrains the angle of the shadow to 45° increments around the general constrain angle.

Option/Alt: Constrains the change in distance to integer values (or less, depending on the zoom level).

Doubleclicking the control brings up a dialog which allows you to enter the shadow offset numerically, either as the standard X and Y values, or as distance and angle values:

Stylism Drop Shadow Offset Dialog

B. Blur Slider

The blur slider thumb control may be dragged along the blur arm to change the shadow’s blur radius, between 0 and 144 pt. The value increases away from the center circle. When the cursor is hovering over the control or dragging it, the current blur radius is displayed. The blur slider can also be clicked anywhere along its length to move the blur thumb immediately to that position. While dragging the blur slider, in addition to the common keypresses (see Stylism Annotated Controls and Common Drag Keypresses), the following keypresses can be used:

Shift: Constrains the blur radius to integer values.

Doubleclicking the control brings up a dialog which allows you to enter the blur radius numerically.

C. Opacity Slider

The opacity slider thumb control may be dragged along the opacity arm to change the shadow’s opacity, between 0% and 100%. The value increases away from the center circle. When the cursor is hovering over the control or dragging it, the current opacity is displayed. The opacity slider can also be clicked anywhere along its length to move the opacity thumb immediately to that position. While dragging the opacity slider, in addition to the common keypresses (see Stylism Annotated Controls and Common Drag Keypresses), the following keypresses can be used:

Shift: Constrains the opacity to steps of 10%.

Doubleclicking the control brings up a dialog which allows you to enter the opacity numerically.

D. Blending Mode

The annotated blending mode dropdown menu allows you to select the shadow’s blending mode, from among Illustrator’s standard 16 blending modes:

Stylism Drop Shadow Blending Mode Menu

E. Color

The color control shows the color of the shadow. To specify a new color, click the square to bring up the standard color picker. To switch from Color mode to Darkness mode, Option/Alt-click the control. A small “D” symbol is displayed to indicate Darkness mode. To change the darkness value, click the square.