How do you create shadows on objects?

Question

Adobe Illustrator

Now I learned that the "shadow" in the effects is created not by a vector, but by a raster, which is sad, because. this method is the most realistic and practical. And what exactly does it affect? Do they take projects with such a shadow on stocks? Does the customer accept? Or for such purposes it is necessary to do purely vector shadow? And in what cases can you use the usual effect?
I watched the video "5 ways to create a shadow."
1 - shadow in effects.
2 - creating a shadow around the circle by creating a fill on its duplicate, in the form of a radial gradient.
3 - The same, but with a rectangle with a mesh gradient.
4 - blend or transition.
5 - creating a stroke with a gradient.
I was puzzled by the fact that the shadow in the effects is rendered as a bitmap because it looks great.
Method 2 is simple, but only suitable for primitives
. Method 3 is the same for primitives, besides, steamy due to the mesh gradient.
Method 4 is acceptable (blend - transition), and looks just as realistic. Its disadvantage is that for the bottom layer you need to take the background color, which makes it impossible to create a normal shadow for an object that is superimposed on several objects with different colors.
5 method is very ugly and unrealistic, besides complicated.
How do you create a shadow? Is it worth it to completely abandon the "shadow" effect when thinking about working in the vector sphere?

Answer 1

Since I started working on flex, I create all the shadows with blends.
Of the pros:
1 control over the contours (just beautiful)
2 control over the color of the shadow (critical when the gradient breaks at low%)
3 control over the direction (I don’t even know how to say - the shadow can be cast along a curve)
4 the shadow turns out to be independent of the object
Raster shadow - only for web-graphics.
The mesh shadow is very long and impractical to change.
2 and 5 - well, somehow strange.
The most beautiful and controlled shadows are blends.
Raster (in effects) Internet graphics, polygraphy (offset, digital printing).
The rest is strange.
Conclusion - use 2 types of shadows according to the situation