in bryce, which is afaik a much simpler renderer, you check shadows, you check soft or sharp, you hit render, and every shadow is just as it is supposed to be. but not in poser. why not? and this min bias thing - what is it really good for? as i see it, it has to cover a basic flaw of poser. the manual says: Q:"Shadow Min Bias: The Shadow Min Bias parameter specifies how far to shift samples towards the light source to prevent self-shadowing of objects." self-shadowing of objects? doesn't that sound a bit weird? what makes objects 'self-shadowing'? and why? i think these questions are quite interesting. and i don't know much about the technical/logical background of these things. in fact, my knowledge more or less zero, and i would like to know more. ;)