Never tested the soft shadows successfully- I always tried to get them with GI/radiosity/whatever you care to call it, and it was a bit much for my machine. I remember the RDS ones being good but slow, I don't know if they changed it for Carrara or what... What would you use GI for if you're not using indirect lighting? That's what it IS. Do you mean having SOME glows light but others not? Then I'd recommend faking radiosity by sticking same-colored lights around the illuminators. And there's a function in "effects" to override the Aura setting for specific objects, last I checked.