Shadow Issues

[ArcTec]

Hi guys, i'm new here and would like to introduce myself as well as solving an ongoing issue i have.

So first of all, my name is Rob Hardy but please call me Archy. I'm heavily into Roller Coaster design and general Architecture and (Civil) Engineering. I use Sketchup Pro 8 for many tasks but mostly for Scenery around the Roller Coasters I make, but have used it for designing 3D gardens for my Landscape profession and other bits and bobs. I'm self taught with the aid of SU's built in vids, and general common sense. Now, on to my issue: -

So when I export from SU as .3ds it doesn't seem to do the shadowing properly. It's as if it's told the object to show a shadow as a 100% black face on the shaded side of the object. I've been solving this with Anim8or by importing the object, telling the materials that the shadow is the same colour as the material, and not black. Then exporting again. This has worked for everything except for the fact that Anim8or doesn't like any texture with an Alpha channel. So if any of you guys know of any little tricks for exporting from SU or another program like Anim8or which can do Alpha's and you could let me know how to import/fix/export. But the final product simply needs to be .3ds with working shadows.

So, thanks for reading and i'm pleased to meet you.

-Archy