Shadow Color Problem

> I only need the material

>to reflect the env map in a

>very subtle way. Is there a

>better way to achieve this?



Look into Falloff maps - they're fantastic for subtle shading effects. If you 
have the object reflecting subtly, then it'll cast negligible light into 
its own shadow.



To keep it from reflecting other objects, set its excludes to include, and 
don't include anything - then it'll just reflect its environment map - but 
don't forget that it was casting light into its shadow in the first place 
because it was reflecting only its environment map. You might as well switch 
back to an old-fashioned non-raytraced reflection at that point, as it'd be 
quicker to render.



Here's a thought: paint the lower third or so of the environment map black, 
and maybe paint in a horizon, too. It'll then shed far less light downwards. 
It'd be as though the object was at least reflecting its own shadow, 
instead of reflecting some imaginary sky from its underside.