Shadow or glow effects are not visible

Symptoms

If one or more of these match what you are seeing, you are on the right page.

• •Both shadow and glow sections are configured but the element is unchanged
• •The effects work on one element and not another
• •The effects disappeared after changing a blend mode
• •The effects show on the canvas but not in the export

Causes and fixes

Ordered from most to least likely. Work down the list — each cause is paired with what to do about it.

1. 1

   Element opacity is low or zero.

   Element opacity composites all fills, the stroke, shadows and glow as a single unit. Raise it, then adjust the individual effect opacities.

2. 2

   Both effects have zero radius and zero offset.

   Each needs somewhere to fall. Set a blur radius and, for shadows, an offset — a zero-radius shadow with no offset is hidden behind the element.

3. 3

   A group blend mode is isolating the element.

   A group with any blend mode other than Pass-through composites its members internally before blending. Set the group to Pass-through so effects interact with layers below as expected.

4. 4

   GPU memory pressure has reduced effect quality.

   Effects that need offscreen buffers can be de-prioritised when VRAM is constrained. Check the Performance panel under View → Performance, and reduce simultaneous buffer-requiring effects.

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