Shadows and rasterization

Rasterized 3D objects do not cast shadows. If you perform an action that causes a group to be rasterized (such as modifying the group opacity or enabling the glow setting for a text object), and you still want that group to cast a shadow, you must flatten the group.

Flattened groups act as 2D layers and can cast and receive shadows as long as they are embedded in a 3D group. Text objects are flattened in the Layout pane of the Text Inspector, and 3D groups are flattened in the Group Inspector. Particle systems and replicators are flattened by deselecting the 3D checkbox in the Emitter Inspector or Replicator Inspector.

Rasterizing causes layers to be rendered in the stacking order shown in the Layers list. So even if the shadow-casting object is in front of the shadow-receiving object in the Canvas, rasterizing it may cause it to change position to reflect the relative order of the layers in the Layers list. You may need to rearrange the layer order in the Layers list to enable the rasterized, flattened object to cast a shadow.

For more information on working with Shadows, see Shadows overview.