Area shadows should give you softer shadows, but will probably increase render time a bit. What sort of glass material are you using? Is it a standard max material or is it a Mental Ray material?

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

tx steve v much for ur suggestion. the glass material i m using is mr material. shld i use hdri material for all my glass? it seems that the porfolios i seen on the net is so realistic i cannot tell the difference from a photograph. is it becos my photon value is wrong? how do i correct that?

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I have to admit that I don't really know enough about Mental Ray to help you. I mainly use Vray and also Brazil a little bit lately, and they both do things a lot differently to mental ray when it comes to raytrace materials. Have you tried either of these renderers?

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

I think that is amazing for your first building i struggle making a cup never mind making a buliding

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One life Live it
[Link to www.scotts-designs.co.uk]