Ok it looks like everyone is having a version of the same problem...putting textures on top of textures. I also sent over my problems to the list and sort of have an answer now. According the manual and the Carrara bible it says to just click on the tool (poly, square, circle) you want and start drawing. This will work just fine on very simple geometery. Problem is that most models arnt quite that simple. Thanks to someone on the list, you just put on your base shader, then at the top change it (I assume it says multi-channel right now) to complex shader --> Layers list. Now you should have a "+" sign at the bottom. Click on this plus sign and select what type you want (poly - square - circle). Now grab the arrow in the tools and you can move it around. Oddly enough if you add it in thru the list rather than the tools you can at least add it on. Well I think I explained it correctly..but maybe not. If it doesnt make anysense then let me know and I'll dig out the orginal email and post it up. I still dont have it working properly all the way but at least the tools are working more correctly now.

Hi Brent, One issue that I haven't seen addressed is the poly count where the 'decal' goes on. I've had to use the Multires Subdivide feature to increase the poly count where the decal goes on. The higher the poly count, the less distortion in the decal. Mark