I only understood part of what you were saying! :) But on one point, I think I understood you and it's what I've observed. The scatter node seems to take the textures (that I've spent a lot of time crafting), and lighten and brightens the crap out of them, altering the color that I intended when working in Paintshop. The whole current shader set up seems to be aimed at lightening and brightening the textures. This really drives me nuts! And the specular also drives me crazy. In many instances it makes characters look like they are oiled or sweating profusely. I'm looking for a 'dry' specular, if that makes any sense. I am avidly following this thread hoping to glean some ideas I can use. Thank you guys so much for dicussing this!

"A lonely climber walks a tightrope to where dreams are born and never die!" - Billy Thorpe, song: Edge of Madness, album: East of Eden's Gate

Weapons of choice:

Poser Pro 2012, SR2, Paintshop Pro 8