Well, for me, poser is great for working the character to the concept I want. Carrara is where I make all the settings, props, and scenes, and of course the final render. I have barely scratched the surface of Carrara so I expect that as I learn it more, I will get even better results. Poser is great program too, makes the whole figure thing super easy and lets you put you mind where it really should belong, in the composition. But all tools are good if you know how to use them. Hell, I fixed a dishwasher with a butterknife as a screwdriver. Getting past the oddities of some of Carrara's features is the only stumbling block, but once past them, it really is a great program.

I think what really was throwing me was the fact that when you go to the head (for example) there are shader settings for each and every item on the head (eyebrows, lips, etc) I threw out all the shaders and used the multi-channel mixer as was stated in the other post. The real trick came when I realized the texture map I was using did not correctly map some of the areas. I redid the messy area and made a new transparacy map and it came out great (tho the artifacts around the eyebrows remains, fixed easily in post-render) So now when I pull a poser model into Carrara I immediatly dispose of all the shaders and create a single shader for the body and a single shader for the head and use the techniques outlined. I am grateful for the help I got here. I love it when the lightbulb finally goes on. J.Dexter

I think you did a great job! It looks really nice. My only question, the reflection of the heart box in the glasses. Should the whole box and cover reflect like that? Just asking, because it seemed like it was more than it would be in RL. But I could be wrong. It is really a great pic.

Attached Link: http://www.3dtextures.fr.st/

I bought the textures from Daz as well, (Mike's hi-res) was dissapointed. Look at some of the work here. They have some great skins here. I think StefyZZ's Edo and Skincult's Gabriel are must haves (I love them both) There are many others too, as well as a few skins in the free stuff area, which are also very good.

Was this at the request of Michael? (sorry, couldn't resist)

I don't know the book either, but I am going to find out. Thanks for the book tip Larry.

Oh, and VS, the key also got lost moreso when I resampled down to this size. It is much more noticible on the actual render. I am planning on having this one printed, (Kinko's if I can figure out how they do that) so I rendered large.

Yeah, when I changed the POV the key is reflecting less light than it did before. I tried moving the light but the results were not good for the rest of the picture. I think this angle is much better than the original one. I will try to brighten up the key manually. Never heard of the book Larry, is it good? I'm always looking for something good to read.

I threw a spin on the POV as suggested, I think it looks better now too. It clears up the genital and leg issue. I found what I think is the perfect background, the parched landscape was a good suggestion, I wanted desolate. I am waiting for the final render now (35 more minutes on a P4-1.8G) so I can start the post render work this evening. Thanks for the comments and suggestions. =)

The post-render work is going to include darkening of the genital area, so it won't be obvious anymore. I am not too pleased with the background yet myself, I need something though, because I would like to keep the shadow that shows the top of the cage in the back. Maybe rotating it will do good too, then the genital area will be less noticable (if at all). It's really fun trying to move the scene and not have the bars shadow obscure something I want to show, hehe. I am going to look for something more 'desolate' for the ground, like bare earth or sand maybe. Thanks for the comments, I will take all the advice I can get. This is my first (of many, hopefully) pieces.

Doh!!!!!!!! Light through transparancy!!!! Well that fixes one problem. I forgot all about that. That would fix the hair problems. I haven't begun on the eyes yet. (But there are so many ways around that, I am not too worried about it) I played with the texture map again today, and used another batch of settings (using the original example that was posted) and I have just gotten a much more acceptable render than ever. Just have to fix eyelashes now. Thanks for the info again, I will post my settings once I get home and tweak them a bit again. Maybe it will help someone.

Actually, they are 2 candle holders I have in the house. I started by making a plate and then mapping it, shading it, etc and then moved up from there. The first candle holder (rainbow) was the first piece I had to use multiple modelers for (Vertex and spline) and my first one where I learned to name and set shaders for every item that I wanted to. The second one was more difficult because I had to work with sweep paths for the framing (as opposed to the simple curves of the first one). I learned a lot in making the second one (and that Cararra has some serious bugs too) but it was a good experience. Now I am going to move on to something more complex with a possibility of adding a 3rd modeller type. Thanks for the response =) J.Dexter

You are right Little Dragon, it won't convert. I will post this as it is. I think there might be a way to actually create a mesh and then map the flame to it, but that is beyond me at this point. (I just moved from simple, one-piece items to multiple items/shaders made from spline, vertices, etc.) THanks for the heads up though. I will post it as it is now and hope someone find use from it.

It was a procedural technique (pretty sure, remember, very, very new to all this) it did create an object and I named them (like I named the Vertex and Shaders. I am sure it was a procedural. I will see if I can change it into something else maybe?