Quote - Try this...Select All materials, uncheck the material you want to isolate for a map, press the minus key which will shrink all of the selected maps, click and drag selected maps off to the side. now you have a template of that isolated material. Any variation of this technique should get you off in the direction you want to go... see illustration. (click for larger).

think the problem is a) no real place to drag things to b) I have no idea what to drag away / shut off it is such a mess... thanks for the help  though