Thank you very much dlk30341, I'll read it today. Hey, I agree that the harder you work at creating something from scratch in Vue, or at least tweaking it so that you're not lazily using default textures and atmospheres, the more proud you can be of your work. It's more yours to claim. I spent four hours last Sunday just working on a complex proceedural cracked-ice sort of texture, and learned a lot by working with functions and filters ... and ended up with something that I look forward to making use of soon. It was rewarding work. But there are certainly times, particluarly in mega-poly renders, where intelligent use of alpha planes is just another tool in the artist's arsenal, a means to an end.