WOLFRAM

DropShadowing
DropShadowing

Unsupported in Cloud

is a twodimensional directive specifying that graphics objects are to be drawn with an additional blurred offset image.

DropShadowing[{dx,dy}]

uses an absolute offset {dx,dy}.

DropShadowing[{dx,dy},r]

applies a blur effect with radius r.

DropShadowing[{dx,dy},r,col]

uses the specified color col for the blurred offset image.

Details

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)Summary of the most common use cases

Apply a drop shadow effect to text:

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Plot curves with shadows:

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Show a map of the US with drop shadow:

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Scope  (15)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

Basic Uses  (7)

Apply drop shadow to graphics primitives:

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Apply drop shadow to Text:

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Apply drop shadow to a plot:

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Apply drop shadow to a chart:

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Style a geometric region:

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Show a schematic outline map:

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Summary box:

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Specifications  (8)

DropShadowEffect with no arguments draws a translucent shadow to the bottom left of the object:

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Specify the offset of the shadow relative to the original object:

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Use a custom shadow blur radius:

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The shadow color is set to GrayLevel[0,1/3] by default:

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Set the shadow color explicitly:

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Set the color to Inherited to use the FaceForm color of the original object with half opacity:

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DropShadowEffect works with shadow colors with opacity:

Out[1]=1

Use the FaceForm color of the original object with a custom opacity:

Out[2]=2

Set the blur radius while using the default values for offset and color:

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This is equivalent to only giving the blur radius:

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Set the shadow color while using the default values for offset and blur:

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This is equivalent to only giving the color:

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The shadow offset and blur radius are specified in printer's points by default:

Out[1]=1

Use an ImageScaled offset and radius:

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Applications  (11)Sample problems that can be solved with this function

Basic Applications  (1)

Show the shadow offset and blur radius:

Offset the shadow to the right:

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Blur the shadow using various radii:

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Offset to the lower left with a large blur radius:

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Shadow Effects  (3)

Simulate 3D depth in a 2D graphic:

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Larger values for the offset and blur radius correspond to greater depth:

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Create a glow effect by using no offset with a large blur radius:

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Approximate a thin outline by using multiple drop shadows:

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Graphics  (3)

Apply drop shadow to graphics primitives:

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Apply drop shadow to Text:

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Apply drop shadow to a GraphicsComplex:

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Visualization  (4)

Plot curves with drop shadows:

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Style bar charts:

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Style vector plots:

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Style parametric plots:

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Properties & Relations  (2)Properties of the function, and connections to other functions

Drop shadow effects can also be produced using image processing functions:

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The equivalent effect using DropShadowing:

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Graphics primitives can be duplicated and offset using Offset to simulate an exact shadow:

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Possible Issues  (1)Common pitfalls and unexpected behavior

Drop shadows are drawn in the order in which their corresponding objects are defined in Graphics:

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Interactive Examples  (1)Examples with interactive outputs

Adjust the drop shadow offset, blur radius and color on a plot:

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Neat Examples  (2)Surprising or curious use cases

Add depth to overlapping polygons:

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Create an animation of text hovering off the page:

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Wolfram Research (2022), DropShadowing, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html.
Wolfram Research (2022), DropShadowing, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2022), DropShadowing, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html.

Wolfram Research (2022), DropShadowing, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2022. "DropShadowing." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html.

Wolfram Language. 2022. "DropShadowing." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2022). DropShadowing. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html

Wolfram Language. (2022). DropShadowing. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_dropshadowing, author="Wolfram Research", title="{DropShadowing}", year="2022", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html}", note=[Accessed: 24-March-2025 ]}

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_dropshadowing, author="Wolfram Research", title="{DropShadowing}", year="2022", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html}", note=[Accessed: 24-March-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_dropshadowing, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={DropShadowing}, year={2022}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html}, note=[Accessed: 24-March-2025 ]}

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_dropshadowing, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={DropShadowing}, year={2022}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DropShadowing.html}, note=[Accessed: 24-March-2025 ]}