Thanks all. The translucency channel - that would be great. Maybe C3. Adding an additional light could do the trick but it may be difficult for it to fall into a specific rectangular area. I do have litst's real world metals (they're great - I would recommend them to anyone, hope you like the plug litst) but light passing though isn't the real problem, I am looking for the area I circled to be softer and brighter than the area covered by the wall. I will try the metal test though, maybe the holes will catch highlights as the light passes through. thanks all memaci