hi, im doing a research report for uni on materials and lighting, but in a little example scene iv created of different basic materials all the spheres create shadows that are very squarish (not one square but blocky instead of smooth). iv rendered with skyline and ray trace, played with the lighting and exposure controls ect and it isnt changing at all.
anyone know what ive done wrong as iv neve come across this before!
cheers in advance!

Either post an image showing the problem, or zip and post the file so we can have a look.  It sounds like shadow maps that aren’t large enough, but if you’ve tried raytrace as well then there is some other problem.

3DS Max Design 2011 64-bit - Advantage Pack
Dell Precision T5500, Dual Six Core Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz, nVidia Quadro 5000, 24 GB RAM, Win 7 Enterprise 64-bit
Minneapolis, MN, USA

this is image im getting, using mental ray to render and with a free light to cast the shadows. cheers.

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Those are definitely shadow maps in your picture - not ray traced shadows.  Shadow maps are fine as long as you set them up properly.  But there are many different ways to create quality shadows.  Check out this recent thread regarding your specific issue with shadow maps…

http://area.autodesk.com/forum/Autodesk-3ds-Max/lighting---rendering/bury-shadows/

3ds Max 2013, Maya 2013
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Core i7, 12GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro FX 3700 (Driver 267.17)

cheers pal, ill av a look into changing the size of my shadows when i get a chance, and if that fails ill use ray traced shadows, (if i can find out how)

Ray traced shadows can be as easy as changing the shadow method on your light from “Shadow Map” to “Ray Traced Shadows”.  But if they end up looking to crisp then you can look into Advanced Ray Traced shadows or Area Lights or even tweaking the regular shadow maps.  Many options to choose from! :)

3ds Max 2013, Maya 2013
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Core i7, 12GB RAM
Nvidia Quadro FX 3700 (Driver 267.17)

and if that fails ill use ray traced shadows, (if i can find out how)

http://area.autodesk.com/for...ransparent-shadow/#109092