heyas; okay, messed with this and did some experiments. here's what i think is going on.... if the camera is in the spotlight's light cone, AND the light itself is out off the edge of the picture, you get this occluding disc thingy. why? i dunno. it even happens with the quad spotlight. so i'm back where i started. i have to use the sun light to get this angle, and the angle is all okay.... but how do i strengthen the light/dark contrast? oy.