Well, now that you saw the alpha mask demo, here's a scene with our little friend the orange fish... This isn't the underwater entry... I was just trying this to see if it works, and it does.. :)

I'm glad that people here were able to help you overcome the problem. They actually look pretty good even at this distance, and I bet several dozen of them mapped to a single plane would be terrific as a background school of fish. Now I'm gonna have to look into this alpha channel thingie some more!

Yeap, that's the beauty of the online community... People share a passion, and by sharing their different skills, everyone becomes better at their craft in the long run...

They're looking good! One suggestion: vary the angles on them some more. Schoolfish do tend to look "all the same" but a bit of variation in side-to-side and up-and-down angles would help a bit, methinks. Not too much, or we'll think they didn't learn much in school. ;)

What's the flat white thingy on the floor? I did put my glasses on but still can't figure that one out... and I am curious! Neato fishies however. I do agree with Varian to adjust them slightly so they are still schooling but with some very slight differences.

You are right Varian, they shoul definitely have more variation among them... I just put this up as an illustration of these fish in action... But yeah, with more variation, they would look even more realistic... These fish are really in summer school though... that's why there are not that many of them... :)

Diana, that was a quick attempt to put some garbage on the ocean floor, not unlike one finds in today's beaches... :) This is really just a quick scene to show off the fish in water... :)

Summer school! ::groan!!:: :D

Yes, I knew that would get someone... :)