Systems and methods for generating shadows for inserted content are provided. The inserted content may include augmented reality content that is inserted into an image of a physical space. An example includes determining a location to insert content within an image. The content may include a polygonal mesh defined in part by a skeleton that has a plurality of joints. Examples may further include selecting a plurality of selected joints form the plurality of joints. Examples may also include generating a shadow polygon based on the content and determining shadow contributions values for the plurality of selected joints for pixels of the shadow polygon. Examples may also include combining the shadow contribution values from the selected joints to generate shadow magnitude values for the pixels, rendering the shadow polygon using the shadow magnitude values, and overlaying the inserted content on the rendered shadow polygon.