Hmm - interesting about the shadows. Yeah, it WOULD be much better if we had alpha transparency for the shadows - for example, perhaps we could set pure black (0,0,0) as partially transparent (as long as we avoid using this color for anything but shadows in our art).
As it is, my ixitxachitls (did I get that right?) are nearly black themselves, so black shadows would obscure them completely, unless I make the shadows somehow really small...
