sclass ShadowJLabel extends JLabel {
  int tracking;

  *(S text, int tracking) {
      super(text, JLabel.CENTER);
      this.tracking = tracking;
  }

  private int left_x, left_y, right_x, right_y;
  private Color left_color, right_color;

  public void setLeftShadow(int x, int y, Color color) {
      left_x = x;
      left_y = y;
      left_color = color;
  }

  public void setRightShadow(int x, int y, Color color) {
      right_x = x;
      right_y = y;
      right_color = color;
  }

  public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
       String text = getText();
       FontMetrics fm = this.getFontMetrics(getFont());

       int w = fm.stringWidth(text);
       w += (text.length()-1)*tracking;
       w += left_x + right_x;
       int h = fm.getHeight();
       h += left_y + right_y;

       return new Dimension(w,h);
}

public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {

      ((Graphics2D)g).setRenderingHint(
          RenderingHints.KEY_TEXT_ANTIALIASING,
          RenderingHints.VALUE_TEXT_ANTIALIAS_ON);
      char[] chars = getText().toCharArray();

      FontMetrics fm = this.getFontMetrics(getFont());

      int h = fm.getAscent();
      int x = 0;

      for(int i=0; i<chars.length; i++) {
          char ch = chars[i];
          int w = fm.charWidth(ch) + tracking;

          g.setColor(left_color);
          g.drawString(""+chars[i],x-left_x,h-left_y);

          g.setColor(right_color);
          g.drawString(""+chars[i],x+right_x,h+right_y);

          g.setColor(getForeground());
          g.drawString(""+chars[i],x,h);

          x+=w;
  }

      ((Graphics2D)g).setRenderingHint(
          RenderingHints.KEY_TEXT_ANTIALIASING,
          RenderingHints.VALUE_TEXT_ANTIALIAS_DEFAULT);

  } // end paintComponent()
}