Hello! I am wondering what is the easiest way to go about making tattered or ripped clothing? Transperancy maps? Semi-newbie here....a little mini-tutorial would be delightfull... Thanks

I think transparancy maps would be the best way ... That is they way most people do it.

but will that work for an animation? I've been trying to use transparencies in animating and I haven't had too much luck. Am I doing something wrong?

Yup. That's right. Transparency maps are definately the easiest way. As far as a mimi tutorial: Either find the template for the clothing item(s), or make your own template(s) using Steve Cox's UV Mapper program, and paint the map in black & white. Black, equals completely transparent. White, equals completely opaque. And, of course, Greys, equal various levels of transparency. When you are finished painting the transparency map, save it as a TIFF file. Open Poser 4. Select the appropriate figure, and clothing. Make sure you are using the correct clothing to match the template that you used, (the templates are NOT "universal", you MUST use the right clothing for the template you used to make the map, anything else won't map right). Then go to the toolbar at the top of the screen. Hit Render, then Materials. A new window will pop up. Where it says Object, (top, left hand corner), Klick on the arrow, and select the object that you want to apply the map to, (i.e. Pants). Then set Transparency Min. to 0% . Set Transparency Max to 100% .Then go to where it says Transparency Map, klick Load, and browse your hard-drive to where you saved the transparency map as a TIFF file. Hit Enter, once you've found it. Your Trans(parency) map is now loaded. At this point you may also load any Texture maps and/or Bump maps in a similiar way. When finished, hit O.K. Now when you render, your custom trans map will be applied. Well, that's basicly it. I hope I explained it clearly enough. Good luck.