ronstuff, I 2nd alamanos' plea for a screen shot... (Starting from behind here, as P5 didn't want to cooperate on my system until SR4.1!) You should be able to create the effect of separate ear material zones using the Grouper tool to select all - or even just the outer parts - of the ear(s) and spawn a new material zone. Leastways it shows up in P4/PP Materials, so I'd assume it'd show up in P5's Material Room. Thanks for the thoroughness of your post.