Hi Black star, If you use depthmap shadow (rendering shadowmap), there are a lot of controls. It takes a long time to get "the effect" you seek. When you get a good lightset, save it to lightlibrary or, better yet save it as a pz3(saves shadowcam). The short answer , mo, is shadowmap lights do not penetrate transmap hair very well. They leave a broad dark shadow where you should get mottling from the hair strands. Raytrace shadows cut through transhair too well and can even cast an eyelash shadow. Raytrace lacks the shadow blur/finesse of shadowmap spots, though. Blending the 2 together is probably the simple answer. This is what I used to do in P5.