thanks a lot, bagginsbill! i hope, jenx will put this one in her tutorials-thread too. this one's just too good to get lost... say, for v3 i use a 2nd v3 with reduced geometry and cr2, a little bit of displacement and a transmap. would you kindy show me how to use your shader with this combination? wait ... i better show you the maps i use. on top is the map i use for Alternate_Specular...