hi own1221,
i'll test the file later.
i don't know how max handles material's properties, but can you control the value of reflected lighting ?(diffuse?)
can you assign a diffuse illumination model such as blinn, oren-nayar, or phong?
if you can you should be able to have access to sliders that control the diffuse & fall-off amount.
what kind of lighting are you using?
if you fake the lighting, using lights above the openings,
i think that they should attenuate using inverse-square law.