it could be reversed normals, make a copy of the obj load it into UVMapper & save it with either export Normals unchecked or invert normals checked, that should fix it

lol.... i tried both unchecked, both checked, and just one checked at a time, (both options)... please dont say this is checkmate! each result yielded the same render however... any clues???

When you have it in UVMapper, you might also want to check that those portions are assigned to the same material as the rest of it -- they might have a different material definition, or even none at all...

It's a common misconception that Poser4 uses imported normals, it's the only 3D app I know that always creates it's own. So (as you discovered) messing with the normals externally doesn't do anything in Poser. If it's not as hankim suggested (and without loading the mesh into my modeler), I can only guess that it's flipped (most likely) or empty polygons. I don't think these can be fixed in UVM or P4 but most modelers offer functions for flipping or filling individual polys.

whoa..... well, it has only 1 mat assignment. so, it seems like ill be taking this to the max forum. i really appreciate the help dudes. rock on.

heyas; okay, one more time about black holes: holes in the mesh that you can see through are reversed normals. they DO render just fine, though. holes in the mesh that you can see through and that DON'T render are.... well, holes in the mesh. missing polygons. (or, n-gons in p3.) BLACK holes are one of two things: 1: degenerate facets. these occur mostly on thin or pointy things, but may also appear for inexplicable reasons on large flat areas. 2: two-sided or polygons sharing the same space in p4. considering the pointy-ness and the general over-smoothing of your wing-like things here; it's my professional opinion that you have degenerate facets. you may need to sub-divide your mesh. if you have sharp edges, you need to bevel them. if that doesn't work, you can try 'fixing' degenerate facets in uvmapper (load the obj and press 'insert'), or split vertices in uvmapper. (note: don't do the latter if you want to morph or bend the object.)