but will the shadows remain? I thing any shadows will not cast on the image if the surface gets a transparent material

Hi again,

Ok, I think I explained it wrong.

I can get shadows to show up in maya but I can't get then to cast onto an Image via camera/image plane/ use background shader.

For some reason the "maya plane,used background shader" show up as "solid" not transparent when rendered, so that only the shadows cast onto the image.

Basically, I need to render a plant with shadows which will be composited in after effects onto another scene.

  I know I could simple do it in VUE stand alone, but i have a very complex model in maya and don't want to be working in VUE. (hate their navigation tools)

  Thanks again,

Lou