what are shaders, and how do you use them?

That question has been asked often, in pretty much those words - do a search and you should find several explanations here or at DAZ.

anyone know of a link that teaches how to create your own shader? 

Do a search for Renderman Shader Language tutorials or examples.

thanks Richard.
think I'll skip that idea definitely not smart enough to figure that code out lol.
thought it might be something simple like creating a mat file... hmm actually I believe quantum physics might be easier to learn.:blink:

seeing as not many people actually give helpful advice, ill take it upon myself.

a shader is, from what ive seen, changes the different parts of whatever material it is applied to, like its ambient lighting color, specular color, material type, etc.

you can accomplish the same thing by tweaking the Surface tab in DAZ, but shaders are a bit of a shortcut.

they might also include different textures, but im not too sure on that one

as for general "how to use", there are some in the freestuff section. just put them into your runtime, run DAZ, select what you want to modify, and load the shader.

Is that the whole "shader" /"shader preset" confusion again?. Shaders are written to take advantage of some or all of the potential capabilities of Studio ( or what ever). Think script that opens up hidden capabilities in Studio. Shader presets take advantage of the capabilities that have been added by the shader. You don't need to learn to code to use one of the many shaders already created for studio and you sure don't need any advanced experience to use a preset. A preset is like a mat file but can be applied to any surface.

Aside from the surface options already available in daz (there are scads of studio presets that don't require any extra shaders) there are several other free or pay for shaders that will let you create your own presets or use some one else's.

There is a free shader from Daz that adds Sub Surface Scattering, toon, and a second specularity- http://free.daz3d.com/free_weekly/detail.php?free_id=249
Pendragon has a free shader- http://www.arthurs-cgi-corner.net/3D/downloads/downloads.html

Daz sells some as well-
The Human surface shader, which is for more than just humans (skin) and I think the easiest to of the more complex ones.
http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/elite-human-surface?item=7412&_m=d
PWSurface 2
http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/pwsurface-2?item=8258&_m=d

There are more but I freely admit that after 2 in the morning I start getting lazy.

Strictly speaking, the shaders at http://free.daz3d.com/free_weekly/detail.php?free_id=249 are the shader that is included with DS but instead of being one shader, with lighting model as the only way to switch between them and only the shared parameters exposed for setting (and any others given a single, unchangeable, value), each lighting model is a separate file and most expose parameters unique to themselves