'When you set it too high, shadows will not start where the two objects meet' Thanks stewer, That was a big part of my problem. The Angle End seems to be the only way to cure it, but it increases the falloff too, unfortunately. But I still don't know what this 'value' you mention is or how I can set it. Nor can I find the long explanation. I looked through both poser 4 and 5 manuals and those pages don't deal with animation or rendering. mac