caustics vs effect shadows

[noam_farhi]

hi evryone. i have this simple scene of an shtray with a smoking cigarette on a wooden table. i noticed that when i use caustics (which cause this great effect i'm not willing to give up), the "effect shadows" option is ignored, and the shadows are flat, probably by the logic that the caustics are supposed to fill that gap. the question is - what do i do now with the smoke - that cause a flat shadow as if it was non-transperent?
besides - any tips to make a decent smoke?
mine is a noised, up-side-down cone, with a standard material with fall off inside transperancy. it isn't convincing, and that's an understatement...

[J_Bug]

Take a look at the scene included with MAX 4
"Scenes\NewFeatures\SpaceWarps\Drag-CigSmoke.max"

--Jon