Arnold: Controlling what objects receive shadow in Maya 2015

[josueselva]

Hi everyone!! I am diving into Arnold as a new user. I'd appreciate your expert guidance with how to approach the following task.

I will integrate a CG on top of the round black table, all shaded with Arnold; a spot light to the right, the camera view position is as you see it in the picture; the wall to the left already has an original shadow coming from the live shot footage. I need to project realistic shadow from the CG to the wall at the left and realistic shadow and reflection on the table top; the new shadow needs to match realistically the original one already on the wall. If I've unchecked "cast shadows" from the Arnold section or the Render Stats in the Mesh (using aiShadowMatte material) for the table top, the CG object's shadow remain, BUT instead it fills entirely, covering even part of where the table's shadow use to be. Is it possible to block or mask part of the shadow coming from the CG so that it only shows the new part out of the original shadow? I'm looking to create the same effect similar to this link for V-ray (<a href="https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VRAY3MAYA/Controlling+Shadows+Using+the+Sampler+Info+Node?fbclid=IwAR01us26Q-AdIHH_BRbv8H1bgM0YhucdfkGiNtwGpcJ-DG3sxAARpXGMk64" target="_blank">https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VRAY3MAYA/Controlling+Shadows+Using+the+Sampler+Info+Node?fbclid=IwAR01us26Q-AdIHH_BRbv8H1bgM0YhucdfkGiNtwGpcJ-DG3sxAARpXGMk64</a>) Thanks for your advice. Josh Selva

Task:

Unwanted result:

WANTED / DESIRED EFFECT RESULT

[lejuarezCW9RL]

Any solution? Currently looking at this in Arnold.

[lee_griggs]

Do you want to disable receive_shadows for the table?

[darioOrtisi]

Render Setup?