Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-90.196.147.254-20160809063001/@comment-4010415-20160809103731

Honestly, sometimes, their feet literally didn't make contact with the ground, or at least not full contact. That's one reason they tried not to show the characters' feet in a lot of shots. That one shot in volume 3, when Arslan prepares to break the giant ice ball, her foot doesn't actually land on the ice when she plants her foot behind her. It was animated in a way where it's supposed to be this big stomp that roots her in place, but her foot didn't even touch the ice, so it was rather awkward.

The presence of shadows and the characters' feet touching the ground in volume 4 will most likely be because they've changed what program they animate in, rather than them getting better at animation or style. Volumes 1-3 were animated in Poser Pro simply because that was the program Monty was used to, and he didn't want to put off making RWBY just to learn how to use a different program. Volume 4 is animated in Maya, and it's apparently superior to Poser Pro.