So working with the shape that receives the shadows, I’m trying to figure out how the shape relates to the site.  I went back to the original animation, changed to metaparticles and added another wall.  The 3 walls are nice because you can see the division between them and you can see the shadows wander between the walls.  You can also see the shape change that happens throughout the animation.  At the same time, I think the seam between the walls is distracting and perhaps gives more information about the shape than do the shadows…

In another run, I changed from the walls to a geosphere so that there isn’t a seam but the “walls” fit and flow together.  This is the fast version… whoo!

 

The pics show several shadows created by the same system, but they are interacting on the wall with different intensities.  I changed the contrast and colors in the pics so I could see what was happening… I perhaps need to do the same in the max files…  I like the way the shadows interact and tell you that the surface is curved but it seems chaotic.

I was looking for some suggestions about the shadow-receiving shape…  maybe just a nudge to start thinking about it differently with regard to how it should reflect the site…

NY