Ok, let me see if I can try to explain some of the thought processes.

Initially I just asked for more information on a specific node trick. That led to this light issue, and at every turn I have tried to clarify I specifically wanted information on the node trick, and in a couple of posts I tried to elaborate a small reason of why.No, those terms are not just lighting effects, and although I know that is how they are broadly percieved, that is not the only way of looking at them (yes most people think of Halos or Aura's as being made of light or casting light, but not always the case - maybe just my broader visual arts background here causing a breakdown of understanding). Though color and sureface bleed most definately are not limited to conoting implications of light. There really aren't a lot of alternative references or descriptions, but if you have ever used the surface glow effect in Lightwave or Maya, you know it has nothing to do with lighting or illumination whatsoever - but gradiently bleeds the surfaces color outwards. I originally only used the Halo reference in passing to the Edge Blend trick I was looking for more information on to further my experiments. I originally refered to the Lightwave Glow effect as it bleeds color, not iluminates. My hope is if I can figure it out with color, I can than use it for other attributes. I further tried to elaborate with the surface effectors affecting other surface attributes, and yet that still resulted in being referenced to lighting and the gather node. As for the SM issue, it was Poser Technical Support specifically I was communicating with, and there are many reasons I find it to be plausible.  Having worked with 3D and CGI software for over 20 years, and having seen so many things grow and change, I know from past experiences it is absolutely possible for software using shader trees to have a shader affect surfaces other than the mesh it is attached to.  I accept and understand not all software packages that use shader trees translate them in the same way too.  It is all really in the mathematics and formulas used in the raytracing, and with the right combination of mathmatics, the render engine can be "tricked" - at least the theory is sound.

I have read some of your various posts, and seen some wonderful shader tree combinations you have developed, and I respect that you most likely have a great overall understanding of Poser's shader tree and nodes.  I do respect that. I think the major breakdown in our communication is how we are seeing the problem.  I do not see shaders, surface textures, etc... as nodes affecting a surface or mesh, I see them as tools that instruct the raytracing software on how to interpret the way to calculate how it's rays are affected by that surface and bounced - resulting in texture, color, transparancy, etc...  The Result is in the ray tracer itself, not the light system, the secret is in the nodes somewhere if it is there.  Given there are already nodes to draw information from other nodes, and project rays to gather information, I feel confident there may be a trick hidden in there somewhere to "reverse" this and "project" information.  Basically, it is my hope to find a combination of nodes that "trick" the rays from the ray tracer when interacting with that surface. If it isn't in an existing node yet, since I have seen it is possible for other nodes to be written, maybe I can hope for such a node or combination to become available in some future product (lord knows I lack the patience to try to do any sort of programming).  I hope this helps bridge the gap in how we see things to an extent, or at least creates a vague sort of understanding of our different thought processes?

I do choose to think outside the box for so many reasons. One of the biggest, is since starting to Use Poser 4 Pro I have seen so many things that were listed as undoable in Poser come to pass.  Much of it was exploration and experimentation on people's parts.  Some of these, though being used by a few artists out there, many still believe to be impossible (for example why do none of Daz3D's tracked vehicles seem to have moving tracks?  Or by now a patch for it at least?).

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