Compositing in 3D Space with Action > About Lights and Lighting Effects >

# Relighting: Casting Shadows

You can create realistic 2D and 3D shadows in your Action scene by using lights to cast and receive shadows, as well as self-shadow (an object can cast a shadow on itself).

After adding and setting up shadow casts in Action, you can output the shadow by itself, or as part of your overall composition. A shadow pass is a white image with greyscale regions that represent the shadow coverage. See Output Options for information on the specific shadow output settings.

Action also supports drop shadows (see Adding Drop Shadows).

#### Topics in this section

- Adding a Shadow Cast to a Light
- Surface and Geometry Shadow Casters
- Shadow Cast Menu Settings