another solution that i've heard of, but never tried, is to make a shadow object. this just means that you determine how your shadow would look and make it in geometry. you could probably convert your text to a vertex object and then smoosh it flat in the modeling room. then make the shader a dark color. this technique is used in video games so that the makers can render without calculating shadows. unfortunately, this probably won't work too well if the surface was anything other than a flat plane. good luck with your problem. -scott