See I'm not sure whats the problem? You want the glowing white windows anyway, since they will in effect/reality be part of the lighting thats lighting up the scene. They would effect there surroundings. So I'm not sure.... Whats the additional lighting in that Starship/starbase scene. Ambient 0? Got a scene screen cap. The glowing panels, should help not hinder. Soft shadows have always worked fine for me. My image for example the soft shadows look beautiful. To me anyway:)! Brian