using the displacement map worked fine.. thanks a lot for the tips.

I will check those values once my current render finishes, thanks for the info!

hum.. this has to do with something else in my image.. I swapped her out for a different figure, and the knee was fine.. adjusted some other things in the image (nothing to do with the figure itself), and the odd "breaking through" appeared again.. I also checked the very same position without any background etc, and it was fine too.. something really odd is going on here.. any ideas?

that wasn't possible for the prop as it was since the flame section was part of the torch prop, but disabling shadow of the light did the trick.. thanks again for the help.

duh.. nevermind, found it. thanks for the help.

ah! thanks, the ambient value worked.. however the fake flame (it's 2 transparent flat squares in a cross shape with a texture) gives off an odd shadow still, the flat squares throw a shadow unless I place the light exactly above them.. then I don't get much of a surrounding light from the "flame" of course.. is there any other option or should I simply add a second light to simulate the flame's light? as for the shadow cams, where do I find that option?