posted an image ... then realized I had a blue hue on the upper brow. (thanks to a friend who pointed that out). Here is the image and settings.  I've been playing with the transparency settings and nothing seems to help.  Advice?

The image:

The settings:

Try setting the transparency edge and fall off to zero. 

Tried that to no avail ... but I changed the alternate diffuse color to white and that took care of it ... now ... I'm just wondering why for future reference.

Did you try setting the diffuse value to 0 rather than using both diffuse_color and Alt_diffuse?

The problem might be with the Scatter group ID.

Is it the same or different as other skin nodes?

I'll look into that ... I'm just glad that making the alternate diffuse white fixed it without having to change the color of the diffuse as that colors the brow (I don't have a lower brow on this figure so that the user can change colors at will).

Just a note: Make sure that the gamma value for all black and white maps (trans, spec, bum, etc) is set to 1. By default, it's set to 2.2, IIRC.

Actually for this brow to "show up" I have to set the gamma to .5.  bagginsbill has a comment about that in another thread I had on balancing gamma and transparencies.  I can't find the thread at the moment.

You have a lot going on in this shader and almost all of it should not be there. I can't see all the connections, so I cannot tell what it's trying to do, but neither do I need to.

Here's what you should have:

Transparency, value = 1, plug in the trans map.

Transparency_Falloff = 0, nothing plugged in.

Diffuse_Color set to what color reflects from the eyebrow hairs. Diffuse_Value adjusted to get whatever adjusted brightness of that color you desired. 1 is fine if you really mean for the color to be exactly that. 

Everything else should be deleted and I mean it. This part is not a closed surface and should not have scatter at all. This part is hair and does not reflect the environment enough to justify the computational cost of soft reflections.

The part is already offset (raised) off the forehead so displacement is not needed.

I am suspicious that some of that transmap that should be black isn't black.

I was wondering about that ... EZskin as much as I really like it over does sometimes.  Thanks for the information bagginsbill.

Did a partial render ... much better ... show more on Monday ... busy weekend. :)

After a busy weekend ... here is my render from bb's advice. :)

After a busy weekend ... here is my render from bb's advice. :)

What appeared to be the issue?

If you see in the original image at the top, there was a blue hue to the brow section, I not only wanted to rid my figure of that but know why it happened to avoid it in the future.  I think I've accomplished that. 

If you see in the original image at the top, there was a blue hue to the brow section, I not only wanted to rid my figure of that but know why it happened to avoid it in the future.  I think I've accomplished that. 

That's great, but what was the issue that was causing that? Was it because the transmap was loaded with an improper gamma or was it something more complex?

EZskin2 adds a lot of unnecessary properties to the alt-diffuse.  I deleted them all and fixed the issue completely.  Pllus I lightened the foot-print of the textures. :)

...or try this: Open up the Hierarchy window and take a look at Victoria's settings. Right underneath "Head" you should see "Eyebrow". Make sure it's set to invisible. That's it.

Now if you make Victoria invisible through the Hierarchy window by clicking the visibility icon of her "Body" or "Victoria" herself, and then make her visible again, you'll see the eyebrow problem again. I'm not really sure why she has an eyebrow.

Um ... if I set eyebrow to invisible the upper brow that I've created with the transparency setting will disappear and I'll have no brow.  This brow is completely created in the "eyebrow" setting.  I have no brow "painted" onto the face map.

One reason there is an eyebrow is to be able to control the color and other aspects of the brow outside of the face map.  I've been working on expanding on this for quite a while now.

OK, just to make sure we're not talking past each other... You're aware, I take it, that Victoria comes with an eyebrow that by default is invisible but when made visible has a cast unlike the rest of her?

Yes, I am ... We all have a different level of knowledge of Poser and I see that you thought I was unaware of the upper brow.  I am intentionally using the upper brow as I feel it has versatility and has been under-used thus far.  I use a transparency map and color the diffuse to change the color of the brow rather than use a new brow on the face-map. I appreciate what you are saying and the effort you have put into to exemplify that.  Here is how I corrected my "blue" upper brow. 

eyebrow in material room:

And here is the face-map with no brow.

As you can see there is no brow at all. 

And finally using the same example you did, I made all BUT the brow invisible to show what the mat-room settings did. 

The upper brow has some great things you can do ... if you want to change the various attributes.  I kept it simple as per bagginsbill's suggestion.

Cheers

Boni

So I just looked at your gallery... "different level of knowledge of Poser" indeed! Nice stuff. You guys can carry on without me. ;)

Oh, sweety, not to worry.  Thank you and we'd rather "carry on" with you. Most people do NOT use the upper-brow.  Find it awkward and unnecessary.  I just like a challenge.  I've been in the community since '98.  Come on I'm sure your images are good too, share them.  I see you have no gallery images up.  I'd like to see your stuff. :)