Hi gang, I don't even know if it is possible to do shadow "blurring" in Raytrace since the shadow blurring radius option is turned off under that option.  That results in a very sharp shadow cast-good for airless worlds but not for worlds with plenty of atmosphere.  

Is there a work around when you use Raytracing in Poser 5?  Plutom

Not in Poser 5 but it's in 6.

You could set up a shadow catcher node (built into P6 but you can still do it in P5) which will give you an invisible ground plane, showing shadows only.  The edges can then be blurred out in Photoshop.

Sam, thanks for your quick reply.  I had a sinking feeling about that-really like the reflection nodes in Raytrace that I can't get in the other rendering mode.

--got another question, how does one go about setting up a shadow catcher node in P5 (I'll need more than a ground plane (it's an indoor viewing room with shadows on walls, desks, piano etc.  Plutom

You can do shadow blurring in raytrace.

Reduced RayTraced shadow (0.400)intensity with blur (8-12) combined with either light or material based Ambient Occlusion has given me good results.

Plutom - I honestly can't remember how to do it, unfortunately.  Maybe someone else here can help you out.

AnAardvark & Richardson - that stuff doesn't work in P5.

Plutom, raytraced reflection has nothing to do with which shadow setting you use, you can have raytraced reflections and still use shadow maps.

Hi guys, thanks for all your help, it got me trying stuff that I thought wouldn't work.  Under each light setting you have two selections:  Ray Trace shadows with shadows blur radius disabled and I ASSumed that in order to use raytrace reflections I had to use Ray Trace Shadows
Wdupre, you are absolutely correct, I can do all my ray tracing reflections etc in the Materials Room and then use Depth map shadows and adjust the shadow blur radius there.

Again EVERYONE, thanks for your help!  Jan