the shadows are now consistent, the technology is incorporated in my rendering script and with some tweaking, i was able to render over the background and get gray in my thumbnails. the best part is that what i have seen has opened up some new possibilities.

www.bestlogic.com/collage/pics/2008-01-30-02-22-42-PST.jpg
www.bestlogic.com/collage/pics/2008-01-30-05-27-09-PST.jpg