Update:

I'm putting the final touches on the composition then I'll render out a file for the internet. This project has been a major learning experience for me. It seemed like nothing went right the first time. I had to do everything 2 or 3 or 4 times to get acceptable results. My big disappointment is that, for some reason, ray tracing is not working on the animation file. It works everywhere except when I open the file where I built the animation. I've been researching the problem for a few weeks but I don't see why it isn't working.... anyway, I ended up using shadow maps. They look ok but I don't really think they look real.

I'm going to post the final video composition in a week or so (including sound!) along with a gift from me to you

Stay tuned.