Hi, can someone explain to me what a transparency map is and how it works. Thanks.

Basically it's an image map that looks at Value only. That's how black or white or blue or red, etc. A pixel is. If it's COMPLETELY black, that pixel will be transparent in the program. Conversely, if it's white that pixel will show up at 100% opacity. If it's between the extremes, it will be somewhat transparent. So, if you had an image of a leaf, for example, you could make a transparency map of two colors (black and white) to make Just the leaf appear in your scene, without the border of the original leaf image. That way, you could just slam the leaf map and the trans map on a plane, and have it look like a leaf, since all you could see was the leaf part, whereas otherwise you would have to model the leaf. They are used primarily in poser to create more realistic-looking hair, with individual strands,and also to make more transparent clothing for the already scantily-clad posette. Hoborg

Go to the Poser Factory listed on the side bar. They are the masters of hair.